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Pink eye checks with an online doctor for conjunctivitis

Waking with your lashes glued shut, or a call from daycare about one red, weepy eye. On a GP video consult, a Prime Medic doctor can look at the eye on camera, work out whether the conjunctivitis looks viral, bacterial or allergic, and talk through time off.

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About General Health

Educational Hub for general health and circulatory issues, covering both routine and urgent GP consult needs.

Eye Disease Vision Issues Eye Health Ophthalmology GP Review

Important Information

Our doctors provide assessment and treatment when clinically appropriate. This service is not for emergencies.
If you are in urgent need of help, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or 000 in an emergency.

Pink eye comes in three types, and only two of them spread

Conjunctivitis is inflammation of the conjunctiva, the thin clear layer over the white of the eye and the inside of the lids. Viral infection is the most common cause. It often trails a cold and runs watery. Bacterial pink eye is thicker, yellow or green, and can seal the lashes shut overnight. The allergic kind itches hard in both eyes, often alongside hay fever, and isn't catching.

Red, gritty eye that's getting worse

Crust sealing the lashes each morning

It started in one eye and has moved to the other.

Childcare wants your child collected

Staying home lasts as long as the eye keeps weeping

Infectious pink eye spreads while there's discharge. The Royal Children's Hospital fact sheet on conjunctivitis says children with it should be kept home from child care, kindergarten or school until the discharge has cleared. If your job puts you close to children, food or patients, plan on staying off until the weeping stops, while allergic conjunctivitis needs no time away.

Ask for a carer's certificate on the same call.

Red, stinging eyes after a swim are usually chlorine irritation, and that isn't infectious

Contact lenses, newborns and eye pain change the plan

Video is fine for a red, sticky or itchy eye when you can still see clearly. Phone cameras can't show the cornea in enough detail, though, so these situations need someone to examine you face to face.

Contact lens wearer with a sore red eye: take the lenses out and see a GP or optometrist in person the same day.

Eye pain, light that hurts to look at, or blurred or reduced vision. Go to an emergency department.

Newborns with red or sticky eyes need an in-person GP exam today, or an emergency department after hours.

Chemical splash or a knock to the eye: rinse with clean water, then go to an emergency department

Daylight from a window shows a red eye properly

Lenses out before you dial in. Sit facing natural light, gently pull the lower lid down with a clean finger when the GP asks, and hold the phone about a hand's width from your face.

Which eye went red first, and on what day
A photo taken first thing in the morning, when the crust is heaviest
Glasses on, since the lenses stay out for now.
New to video consults: read how a telehealth visit works.

Sticky, itchy or watery: the type of discharge sets the plan

Looking at the discharge and hearing how it started gives the GP most of the answer. Viral cases settle by themselves, usually over one to two weeks, with cool compresses and careful handwashing. Bacterial infection may need prescription treatment, decided once the doctor has seen the eye. Allergy is about cutting exposure to the trigger.

Medical or carer's certificate while the eye is still weeping, if the GP agrees time off is needed

Treatment review, with prescription treatment only when the doctor thinks the type calls for it

Keeps coming back, or won't settle: ask about an ophthalmologist referral.

Lens wearers switch to glasses for a week after it clears

Disposable lenses go in the bin after an infection. Healthdirect's conjunctivitis advice also says to wear glasses for at least a week once symptoms have gone. Replace mascara and eyeliner you used while it was active. Any certificate or referral arrives by email. Book a review if the eye isn't improving after a couple of days, and get seen in person straight away if it becomes painful or your sight blurs.