Site icon OilyThing

5 Best Essential Oils for Pink Eye We Highly Recommend

5 Best Essential Oils for Pink Eye We Highly Recommend blog featured image

Have you ever awoken to a swollen, encrusted eye? If so, you likely had a case of pink eye. Alleviating your symptoms can take time and a trip to your doctor. However, using one of the best essential oils for eye might help clear your infection or keep your symptoms at bay until you can seek further medical treatment.

Please do not place essential oils directly on your eye or around them.

What is Pink Eye?

Pink eye or conjunctivitis is infectious. How long you are contagious varies on the type. Your infection will eventually clear on its own in about 10 days, but your symptoms could linger upward of a month.

The infection primarily affects the outer eye with some irritation to the white portion. It can be viral, bacterial, or related to allergens and irritants, according to the CDC.

Symptoms of Pink Eye:

Anyone is at risk of developing eye, but as the video above explains, often the cause doesn’t matter except for how you treat it.

>> You may also want to read our article about essential oils for itching

What are the Benefits of Choosing Essential Oils for Treating Your Pink Eye?

In place of conventional treatments, oils for pink eye won’t extend the growing concern of antibiotic resistance. They might assist you in managing your symptoms before you reach a doctor too.

Essential oils are generally safe when you use them properly with little to no side effects or interactions, so you might prefer to use them in conjunction with any prescribed treatments your doctor suggests too.

Ancient medical texts support their use for a variety of ailments. Many essential oils now have modern science backing or investigating their claims too. Source: NCBI

How to Choose Essential Oils for Treating Your Pink Eye

The most difficult part is discovering what caused your pink eye. As the video above explains, it determines how you will treat it. Luckily, many remedies can healing both viral and bacterial infections and alleviate symptoms.

Healing properties to look for in essential oils to treat your pink eye symptoms:

When possible, you should choose USDA certified organic or third-party tested for purity to ensure your oils aren’t a synthetic or fake.

Best Essential Oils for Your Pink Eye Symptoms

How to Use and Diffuse Essential Oils for Pink Eye

Because you want to avoid direct contact with your eyes, your best application method will be through an electronic diffuser, humidifier, or compress therapy.

Alternatively, you add your essential oil directly to a pot of boiling water and carefully lean over it. This method allows the steam to penetrate your skin. However, be careful of getting too close that the steam burns your skin or the boiling water bubbles up and splashes your face.

A third home remedy would be to pour boiling water into a bowl, add four drops of essential oils of choice, and place a towel over your head and the bowl. Breathe in the steam for about 10 minutes. The added benefit of a facial might relax you too.

Some people do put carrier-diluted essential oils around their eyes, but you do risk accidently rubbing it into your eyes. A safer alternative to direct facial application would be to dip a washcloth into warm water infused with essential oils. Gently wring out excess and apply the warm compress to your closed eyes. The stronger dilution should prevent irritation without affecting the strength of the remedy. Repeat as many times a day as you need for relief.

Other Natural Remedies for Treating Pink Eye

Like essential oils, other remedies can assist in easing your symptoms until the infection runs its course. Do keep in mind that you can use some of these in combination with prescribed treatments. Speak with your doctor before opting for a natural remedy over medication, especially if the cause is .

Tea Bags and Cream

This video shows you how to make two remedies in one using cream and chamomile tea. She adds the tea bags to boiling water, but after you use the cream remedy, she instructs on putting the tea bags on your eyes like a warm compress. Alternatively, you can use green tea in place of chamomile.

Honey, Apple Cider Vinegar, and Turmeric

Stylecraze delivers three Ayurvedic home remedies for pink eye using common kitchen ingredients. These remedies can assist in healing your infection, but you shouldn’t combine them with prescribed antibiotic drops.

Colloidal Silver

This is a common go-to remedy for pink eye and other infections. Unfortunately, most studies offer a depth of information on known side effects and dangers of using colloidal silver. Source: NIH

Topically applied silver does have a place in medicine for skin infections, wounds, and burns. It’s an active ingredient in newborn eye drops for preventing pink eye. No study supports using colloidal silver to treat the condition or its symptoms, but many people do find it speeds the healing process and does help them.

Colloidal silver could prevent the spread of pink eye in families if administered early. However, be sure to read over the side effects and drug interactions first.

Raw Garlic

Eating a raw clove of garlic a day is an old remedy for treating countless ailments. Alternatively, you can use garlic pills, but many people believe fresh is best. Some people even place slices of garlic on the outside of the eye, but we don’t recommend this due to possible irritation. Source: AJOL

Aloe vera

Cut open a piece of aloe vera and apply the gel to the outside of the eye to soothe irritation and inflammation. Avoid commercially produced aloe vera gels; most contain additives or hidden ingredients. You can purchase freshly cut leaves in most grocery and health food stores.

Breast Milk

It sounds like an odd remedy, doesn’t it? Breast milk offers many health benefits. Of course, it’s not readily available for everyone, and the studies highlighting its benefits show the beneficial link exists only between a mother and her child.

Coconut Oil

One of our favorite carrier oils might benefit a few symptoms of pink eye. We need more studies to confirm, but early animal research suggests coconut oil drops might treat dry eyes and inflammation. Source: NCBI

Controversy Over Using Natural Remedies for Pink Eye

The only real controversy over natural remedies and pink eye is when its cause is bacterial. However, bacterial pink eye generally clears without antibiotics in 10 days or less.

Another common complaint or concern is placing non-medicine in your eyes. Some remedies are essentially eye drops, and you should speak with your doctor before using them to address possible side effects or interactions.

Essential oils should never be placed in your eye, which makes them a safer choice for adults and older children. Don’t use essential oils on babies or toddlers without consulting your doctor. If you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, speak with your OBGYN or midwife before using essential oils.

While the FDA doesn’t back medical claims outside of scientific studies, they do support that essential oils are generally safe when you use them as directed, such as with a proper carrier oil or in a diffuser.

5 Best Essential Oils for Pink Eye


1. MAJESTIC PURE Tea Tree Essential Oil

Majestic Pure Cosmeceuticals offers essential oils. We’ve come to enjoy their rich scents despite this product not being organic. They do offer a line of USDA certified products.

Don’t use tea tree oil around cats.

Pros:

Cons:

>> Check Price on Amazon <<


2. Organic Lavender Essential Oil from Being Naturals

Being Naturals makes essential oils a family affair. The company also donates a portion of all profits to charity.

Pros:

Cons:

>> Check Price on Amazon <<


3. Edens Garden Myrrh

Quality standards run high with Edens Garden essential oils. They offer transparency with testing, and their oils come in a variety of sizes to suit your needs.

Don’t use myrrh essential oil if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding.

Pros:

Cons:

>> Check Price on Amazon <<


4. Healing Solutions Clove Stem Essential Oil

Healing Solutions offers you vigorous third party testing to ensure you’re receiving a high quality essential oil. They believe everyone should have access to essential oils, and they offer many free educational videos and pairing guides.

Pros:

Cons:

>> Check Price on Amazon <<


5. Roman Chamomile Essential Oil by HANA

HANA offers beautifully packaged essential oils with a focus on quality.

Pros:

Cons:

>> Check Price on Amazon <<


Final Thoughts About Essential Oils for Alleviating Your Pink Eye Symptoms

Diffusing a single essential oil or creating your own custom blend can help ease your symptoms. Choosing a single oil can be difficult, especially when they have similar healing properties. Scent is unique to each person, so this is a difficult way to gauge a favorite too.

Our pick for the best essential oil for pink eye is Healing Solutions Clove Stem Essential Oil because of its anesthetic, antimicrobial, antifungal, antiseptic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antibiotic properties. Once your pink eye clears on its own, you will likely continue to find medicinal and general uses for you’re your clove essential oil.

Exit mobile version