No More Tears: Easy Tips to Prevent Pink Eye

School is right around the corner, and so are the germs and sicknesses that come with it. Of them all, conjunctivitis - or pink eye - can be the most irritating and hard to diagnose. It’s also one of the most common infectious diseases in school-age children. To make it easier on you this school year, here are a few tips to teach your kids to keep this itchy infection out of your home:

Stay Clean

The first rule of preventing sickness is to teach your children the importance of staying clean – especially their hands and eyes. Teach them to cover their mouth when they sneeze or cough and to avoid touching their eyes afterward. Another thing to help with the prevention of pink eye is changing pillowcases. Pillowcases can carry infectious germs that have easy access to your children’s eyes as they sleep. Keeping a clean and sanitary environment not only helps health overall but also is a big attribute to preventing pink eye.

Be Selfish

It may be hard to hush your inner Minnesota nice, but it’s a necessity when preventing pink eye. Sharing things such as wash clothes, linens, eye makeup, and tissues can cause pink eye and other infections in the eyes. Encourage your children to keep these types of items to themselves and not to accept them from other children.

The number one thing to never share on any occasion is contact lenses or the accessories that go with them. They can carry contagious infections and cause irritating symptoms.

Be a Homebody

This tip is only necessary if you, your child, or someone close to you has pink eye. A crucial thing in preventing it from spreading to others is to stay home during the contagious stage. Pink eye is easily contracted with close contact, which is why it’s so prevalent in teachers and students who are consistently in close contact with others. One should wait until the discharge and redness is gone from the eye before going back to work/school/daily life routine.


Pink eye can be irritating, disgusting, and even unbearable for some. Hopefully, these tips will provide you and your family with the necessary knowledge you need to prevent pink eye – or if you already have contracted it, the knowledge to not spread it. If you think you have pink eye, the most important step to take is to visit the eye doctor and get diagnosed. Catching pink eye soon after you are infected and starting the medicine you will need to get rid of it will drastically lessen your symptoms and shorten your recovery time. Infinite Eye Care offers an urgent care and pink eye service just for that reason.

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New Children’s Books To Get Your Kids Excited About Reading

Looking for activities for your kids this summer? Why not reading? Infinite Eye Care’s Reading Bug Program is just underway! Kids of all ages can participate and win great prizes to encourage them to read this summer. It continues all summer until August 18th, so come on in and sign up. It’s a great way to encourage your kids to read this summer.

Numerous studies show that kids who do not read or read a small amount during the summer have reading abilities that decline or plateau. This can have an extremely negative effect on a child’s education when they get older and have more advanced schooling.

With all the fun activities going on that threaten to take away from your child’s desire to read, it can be hard to find books that will pique their interest. A list of new children’s books from commonsensemedia.com may help you inspire your child to read. Below are our favorite picks from the list.

The Magic Hat Shop by Sonja Wimmer

This book tells the story of a magical hat shop that suddenly appears in the middle of a town, transforming the lives of the people around it. Upon wearing a hat from the shop, a person finds their best self.

Grand Canyon by Jason Chin

This highly educational book is about a father and daughter visiting the Grand Canyon. It features historical facts about the park, as well as explaining the geological process. If your little one is an outdoor enthusiast, this book is a great pick.

This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from Around the World by Matt Lamothe

This culturally rich book goes through the lives of seven different children who live around the globe. It explains a normal day for each child and gives the reader numerous cultural differences and national flavors.

Dad and the Dinosaur

This is a great story about a boy and his stuffed dinosaur. The boy feels brave and courageous when with his dinosaur, but then one day he loses it and becomes fearful and shy. His father helps him find it and along the way they conquer his fear together.

I am (Not) Scared by Anna Kang

In this cute picture book for young children, two bears conquer the fear of going on a rollercoaster together and have a great time. This book is light, funny, and relatable.

Hank the Cowdog Series by John R. Erickson

A book about a dog who lives on a ranch who finds himself in trouble quite frequently. This is a fun light read for kids 7 and up featuring lots of humor and drama.

Fish Girl by Donna Jo Napoli

This short novel depicts a mermaid's life in captivity, and her attempt to escape. Explained as a “Gorgeous Graphic Novel”, this book is great for young readers 10 and up.


Getting your child to advance their reading skills is very important, and hopefully, these new recommendations will help motivate them! There are an infinite amount of other interesting books to read as well that will help your child get on the right path to achieving the Reading Bug Program goals and winning great prizes! If you have any other suggestions for parents looking for great books their child can read, comment below!

Clearing Up the Facts About Pink Eye

Winter. For some people, it’s the season that embodies staying indoors working on crafts or catching up with a few good books. For parents, it’s the season in which their children can come home with a new, exciting illness transferred from their friends at school. According to Washington's Top News, Winter is peak season for pink eye. More accurately, winter is peak season for bacterial or viral pinkeye.

The proper name for pink eye is conjunctivitis, and there are four different causes:

Viral Conjunctivitis - Symptoms can mimic that of a cold or the flu. The disease usually begins in one eye and spreads to the other within a few days. Any discharge from the eye is watery.

Bacterial Conjunctivitis - Bacterial pink eye can accompany an ear infection and will produce a yellow/green colored discharge.

Allergic Conjunctivitis - This type of conjunctivitis will usually affect both eyes. Like many allergy symptoms, the eyes will be watery, itchy, and may cause swelling. It will also accompany other allergy symptoms, such as sneezing or a scratchy throat.

Conjunctivitis Caused by Irritants - Conjunctivitis, put simply, is an irritation of the conjunctiva - the thin tissue covering the white parts of your eye and inside of your eyelid. Sometimes pinkeye can be caused by external irritants, like contact lenses, makeup, or chlorine.  

Viral and bacterial are the only types of pink eye that create discharge in your eyes. They are also the most contagious. As long as you or your child has discharge present, it is important not to come in direct contact with others. It is also important to know that is may go away after a few day, but in bacterial infection, treatment is recommended as it may cause permanent vision loss if scars are present in certain areas of the eyes.  If you get pink eye related to contact lenses, new lenses, lens cases, or eye makeup, replace these items with new ones.

Prevention

• The easiest way to prevent pink eye (especially in the winter) is to keep clean. Wash your hands, bedding, and clothing often, especially if you or someone you know comes in contact with a pink eye patient.
• Avoid touching your eyes.
• If you wear glasses, clean them regularly.
• If you wear contacts, clean, store, and replace them properly.
• Don’t share anything that comes in contact with your eyes, such as glasses, sunglasses, makeup, bedding, or towels.   

The most important thing you can do if you or someone you know develops pink eye is to seek treatment. At Infinite Eye Care, we offer urgent care & pink eye services. The sooner you seek help, the sooner you will heal.

Why School Vision Screenings Aren't Enough

According to the American Optometric Association, as much as 80% of a child's learning occurs through their eyes, which is why a child’s vision is very important. Schools offer vision screenings performed by school nurses, but often they aren’t enough to detect the range of possible vision impairments. They often only test how well a child can see an eye chart from a distance. Even if a child passes that test, they may not be able to see well enough to read or write at their full potential.

Your child’s vision doesn’t only affect what they see. The visual system is complex and involves a patchwork of over 20 visual abilities. It affects how they process and interpret information. It will affect how well they are able to recognize and identify words and pictures, and it is necessary for making and storing mental images. Undetected vision issues will severely impair a child’s ability to learn and develop, and it will stunt their ability to succeed in and beyond the classroom. Any issues in vision can also hinder the ability of a child to succeed on the sports field and affect a child’s ability to pursue hobbies and even socialize.

A visit to a trained professional will help detect any vision impairments and help your child perform to the best of their ability in school. A professional optometrist will be able to test the condition of the eye, the ability of the eyes to fully function, and the ability of the eye to properly perceive. Professionals will also be able to detect visual acuity and refractive issues, inabilities to focus that can result in eyestrain, headaches, double vision, and inabilities to focus.

A school sanctioned vision screening will not be able to accurately measure the health of a child’s entire visual system nor will they have the technology to accurately determine whether or not a child can process information visually. After all, the school nurse is outnumbered by the amount of students and the tasks she or she must perform on any given day. Bringing your child to a professional, like Dr. Tom and his staff at Infinite Eye Care, will mean you child’s eyesight is getting a comprehensive check-up.

Infinite Eye Care is also offering a Back-to-School special on glasses which can help your child see in style. With stylish and affordable glasses options starting as low as $99, your family will be able to stay on budget as the school season approaches.

For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit infiniteeyecare.com.