Recognize & Treat Pink Eye

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Laura D. Cook
Assistant Professor of Opthalmology, University of Virginia-Department of Opthalmology
www.healthsystem.virginia.edu  
434-924-5485

The Ophthalmology Residency Training Program at the University of Virginia was separated from Otolaryngology in 1947. Since 1978, it has been under the leadership of a full-time academic faculty. The Department currently serves as the ophthalmic referral center for central and western Virginia and parts of West Virginia, North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

Recognize & Treat Pink Eye

Laura D. Cook, M.D., Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, describes pink eye and its four common symptoms.

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Transcripts

Dr. Laura D. Cook: Hi! I am Dr. Laura D. Cook. I am an ophthalmologist at the University of Virginia. I am an assistant professor here. Today we'll be talking about several common eye conditions, how to prevent them and treat them. I'll be talking about pinkeye, cataracts and sun protection. Before we get started, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself. I went to the University of Virginia Medical School. So I did my medical training here and in addition, did my residency in ophthalmology here as well. Right now, I am supervising the general opthalmology service in the department of opthalmology where we see hundreds of patients a day. Patients of all ages of all different types of eye conditions. Now that you know a little bit about me, let's go ahead and start our discussion about eyes.

Host: What is pinkeye?

Dr. Laura D. Cook: Pinkeye is an infection or inflammation that effects the conjunctiva of the eye and causes redness, irritation or discharge. There are generally four different causes. First, there is the viral cause or a viral infection. It's mostly the cold viruses that will cause colds during the winter time, spring time. Most often, it can be associated with conjunctivitis. There is bacterial cause or bacterial infection. Again, many bacteria can cause that. There is an allergic cause. Allergy is like seasonal allergies or which are usually spring time or yearly year around allergies, mold things like that and then lastly, toxic chemical exposures, even preservatives in eye drops can cause a toxic response or toxic exposures to cleaning supplies etcetera, things of that nature.

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