Have you ever woken up and found out that your eyelids have a gritty feeling accompanied by a sticky discharge? If the answer is yes, then you are likely to have been suffering from a bacterial eye infection. This is a health condition that causes the inflammation of the conjunctivae (the mucous membranes that cover the white part of the eyes not forgetting the inside part of the eyelids.). Both your eyes or just one eye may appear to be red in color and the eyelids tending to stick together especially during the mornings while your eyelashes may contain some eye discharge. This infection is believed not to be very serious but due to its irritating nature, it may make you feel uncomfortable most of the time.

The bacterial eye infection is mainly caused by bacteria such as streptococci, haemophilus or the staphylococci bacteria. These bacteria are usually transmitted from one person who has the infection to another or sometimes the bacteria may come from the patient's own upper respiratory tract or skin where they are mostly situated.

Newborn babies often get this infection from the vaginal fluids of their mothers during birth. Due to their underdeveloped immune system, the babies usually get a severe form of this infection. Babies can also develop this eye infection from other forms of infection but doctors are known to use swabs to administer appropriate treatment to the baby. However, babies are commonly known to have poorly established tear passage systems. This usually makes them have watery sticky eyes. Therefore, you should be careful not to mistake this condition with the bacterial eye infection.

More often than not, bacterial eye infection disappears on its own without any treatment from a hospital after some few weeks that is if you have a good immune system. If not, possible medicinal treatment could be administered to you by your doctor after a nicely conducted diagnosis. Diagnosis is usually based on the symptoms that the infection portrays and also based on any kind of medical history you may have that may be seen to be of significance to treat this condition. Incases where improvement is not being realized after treatment, further consultancy should be sought from an ophthalmologist who is an eye specialist so that treatment that is more appropriate could be given to you.

If you decide to use the home remedy approach in order to cure yourself, then you should use lukewarm salty water to wipe off any form of pus or crust that may be coming from your eyes. This process is supposed to be done while using disposable tissues or towels that are not shared and that can be disinfected immediately after use. The lukewarm salty water is preferred because the salt  sucks up all the water molecules from the bacteria through the process of osmosis hence killing the bacteria in the process.

Good hygiene of both your face and your hands is believed to be a common factor that would prevent you from getting a bacterial eye infection. Face towels should never be shared and especially when one person is suffering from this condition.

Wangeci Kinyanjui is an expert on research and reporting on Health Matters for years.To get more information on bacterial eye infection visit her site at