My 2 year old son says that his eye hurts. He has been saying it for a couple of days. Not constantly, but regularly enough that I am thinking of taking him to the doctor on Monday. But what for? I don't think it is pink eye. His eye ball looks white and fine. Around his eyes, (lid, puffy bag area) is a little red, but that may be from rubbing, which I have tried to get him to stop doing; yeah right, did I mention he's 2? But he does have a little bit of gunk (discharge). Not a lot. More like he just woke up from a nap. He has had a little bit of a cold.
I've looked at his eye, it looks fine. Can't see any eye lash or anything like that. Just not sure what's going on.
None of his "symptoms" worry me all that much, it's more about them all together that raises a red flag. Has anyone experienced this with their child, and have some insight into whether he has pink eye, or some other infection, or if it's allergies, or nothing really at all.
Thanks so much!
K.
Have you tried a warm compress? I was thinking a sty.
My daughter just had pink eye but her white was pinkish. We caught it before she got all of the crusty discharge.
The pediatrician did mention that sometimes when you have a cold it can back everything up and the eyes don't drain so therefore the gunk.
If it continues I would definitely have him seen.
Maybe it is a stye? Is it in the back of his eye or on his lid? Also, did a friend mention having a "sore eye"? If kids notice someone getting attention from an ailment they will say they have that ailment for attention. My kids do it all of the time.
Good luck! If you aren't sure, see your doctor!
My 3yo son has had several issues with his eyes (not his vision) since birth and had surgery for blocked ducts when he was a year. I would not mess around with getting him checked out. The eyes and vision are very complex and a very small thing can cause much bigger problems, like a scratched cornea. I would def. have him seen as soon as possible.
I 2nd not messing about. It could "just" be a scratched cornea or it could be a flesh eating infection (one of my SILs just had that, the only symptom was pain and a *little* blurriness... the eye *looked* fine. So they cultured it, and then had her race to the ER as soon as the labs came back), or a milder infection (strep, mrsa, staph, etc.), or a migraine, or a blocked duct, or a detached/detatching retina, or intraocular pressure from x,y,z, or, or, or, or.
It's PROBABLY nothing... but considering all the things it COULD be... get checked out on monday.
I suggest, since he has a cold, that he has a bit of infection in his eye. It will clear up on it's own. The doctor would only prescribe an anti-biotic if the eye is red and there is a lot of discharge. Most likely it's a virus anyway.
You can call the advice nurse to be sure.
Katie:
I sooo understand where you are coming from!! I wish I had a magic answer for you...here's what I can tell you...
My Nicky is 9 years old. I've posted about his eye hurting as well. i've taken him to Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute and they can't find anything wrong with his eye...we have had CAT scans, MRIs and ophthalmology testing done.
He feels a pressure in his eye. We've had him tested for glaucoma. Nothing. His levels are absolutely PERFECT!!
His eye HURTS - he will put the palm over his eye to "hold it"...we have used cold compresses....his eye ball does NOT get red or swollen that we can see. We were lucky enough to have one the "episodes" while we were at Johns Hopkins - the Doctor was WONDERFUL with him - she couldn't find anything wrong...and tests were done - we were there for almost 2 hours.
The pain doesn't happen daily. It is random. So I wish I could tell you it was this or that. I hope that it is nothing serious and they can find out what's wrong!!!
Since you live close to me - I'd be happy to give you the number for Johns Hopkins if you feel like you need to go further!!
While it's probably nothing, I would take him to the doctor to get it checked out.
To rule out some pressure behind the eye.
Pink eye would be a lesser issue.
In the meantime, I would use a warm compress.
My 10 yr old had pink eye a few months ago. Same symptoms. Said it hurt, itched a little and was red and a little swollen from rubbing. When he still had it 5 days later took him to the dr and sure enough it was pink eye. It may not be pink eye but better to see the dr and get it diagnosed if it is so he can go about getting better and not infect others (that's if it is pink eye of course). Good luck.
He might have a scratched cornea. That hurts A LOT. Doctor can do a dye test to see a scratch. Ususally harmless, but good to know. Try to get him to leave it alone.
Also, any chance this is how he describes a headache? Maybe he is coming down with something?
When my daughter was 2.5 years old, she would come home from daycare and complain that her eyes hurt. I would look at them, they'd look fine, and I wouldn't think much of it. Until it got to the point where she didn't want me to turn on lights or anything because they made her eyes hurt and she'd cry.
So I took her to the Pediatrician, who looked at her eyes and said they looked fine and that, sometimes, children with light eyes are bothered more by light. She seemed to brush me off just a little too lightly, so I asked her for a referal to a Pediatric Othpamologist (I think that's right; it's an eye specialist), which she gave me. I wanted to be sure.
Thank goodness I went with my Mommy Gut instinct on this one. She not only was very far sighted, but she also had Strabismus, which my husband and I never noticed. She got her first pair of glasses at the age of three, and I had to buy her a special computer program for her to use to correct her Strabismus.
Thankfully, all of our hard work and effort has paid off. The Strabismus has corrected itself, and now, at the age of 11, her far sightedness has also started to correct itself.
If you think having his eyes checked would be a good idea, then it probably is. I had never known any little children with eyeglasses, so when my daughter complained that the lights hurt her eyes, I never gave it a thought that she was having issues with seeing and eye strain.
Good luck!
You have the right idea taking him to be checked out. For all you know he may have poor eyesight in that eye and that is what is hurting him.
I did not know my daughter had a sight problem in her eye. The eye doctor discovered it.
Just curious when your son tells you it hurts? About two weeks ago my 2 yr old was saying his eye hurt too. I too looked and again didn't see anything wrong with it. His cold cleared up and I haven't heard him complain during the day since.
But every morning he wakes up rubbing his eyes saying "Mommy eye hurt mommy eye hurt". I haven't figured out if they are just dry and sticky from sleeping = them hurting for him, or if its the light, that is going from a dark room to light outside of his room.
During the day he doesn't seemed bothered so I've just let it go, but had planned on bringing it up with his pediatrician at his next appointment. I'd definitely go with your mommy instinct, it wouldn't hurt to take in just for a quick check up. Good luck, just wanted to let you know you're not the only one....
Hi, Katie:
No matter what you see or don't see.
When a child complains it is best to
do something about it, even if you
got visine drops for it until you
can call your peds nurse and report the
symptoms.
Good luck.
D.
