Cindy Graves from Louisville, Ky., couldn't believe it when she, and not one of her two children, was the first in the family to be diagnosed with pink eye. "I hadn't been around anyone who had it, so I don't know how I got it," says Graves.

Thinking that pink eye, which is known medically as conjunctivitis, can be spread only from someone else who has it is just one of the many myths about the condition, says Dr. Cindy Ferrell, pediatrician and associate professor of pediatrics at Oregon Health Sciences University. In fact, Graves may have gotten conjunctivitis from someone suffering from a different virus. According to Ferrell, a virus can affect each person differently causing conjunctivitis in one person and a respiratory infection in another.

In older children, pink eye is often caused by allergies, while younger children usually get it from a viral infection, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Treating Pink Eye
Regardless of what caused the condition, though, there's little that can be done to treat it.

"You can use saline or natural tear solutions to treat the symptoms, but other than that there's really nothing you can do,” says Ferrell. “It doesn't respond to antibiotics. You basically have to wait it out -- just like with a cold.”

In most cases, the condition will clear up on its own in three to five days, but if it accompanies other symptoms such as a fever or earache, it's time for a visit to the doctor, according to Dr. Joan Shook, chief of the emergency department at Texas Children's Hospital.

"Adneo virus can be a pretty serious respiratory virus that's accompanied by pink eye,” says Shook. “Sometimes pink eye accompanies the measles or influenza. In fact, there are 22 different organisms that are associated with pink eye -- most of them are benign, most of them viral. If the child is more than mildly ill, or has a fever, it would be worth a trip to the doctor."

According to Ferrell, in the case of very young children who can't complain of other symptoms, like earaches, the best bet is to have a pediatrician take a look. But most often, conjunctivitis is simply uncomfortable and time is the best medication.

Preschool/Daycare Policies
Many doctors, however, will prescribe antibiotic eye drops just because daycares and schools require the child to be on antibiotics before returning. Antibiotics may help shorten the length of conjunctivitis, but it doesn't make the child any less contagious, says Ferrell.

"That's one of my pet peeves,” says Ferrell. “Daycares will let kids with colds come in, but not one with conjunctivitis. The kid that's sneezing is spewing secretions all over the place and he's more contagious than the one with pink eye. A policy like that really puts parents in a hard position because they're going to have to miss work if their kid isn't on antibiotics and we're telling them the antibiotics aren't going to really help. And it puts us in a tough position because we don't want to give antibiotics just to give them. In the past, we've over-prescribed antibiotics and now we're paying the price -- we have bugs, including some that cause conjunctivitis and some that cause more serious illnesses, that are resistant to antibiotics.”

In her practice, Ferrell often writes notes to or even calls daycares and schools about their policy. "I'll sometimes send notes for parents saying that 'antibiotics will not help, please allow this child back in school.' Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's worth a shot." Still, knowing the highly contagious nature of pink eye daycare providers and schools are reluctant.

"It's passed by contact -- a kid rubs his eye, gets the goo on his hands, touches a toy, then along comes another kid who picks up the toy and then at some point rubs his eye,” says Shook. “So, it does spread easily among young children in daycare settings.” The best way to avoid spreading pink eye is to make sure the child and those in contact with him wash their hands frequently and don't share towels, pillows or clothing.

Even then, the condition can spread. When Graves was diagnosed with pink eye, her doctor prescribed antibiotic eye drops and suggested she avoid her children until the condition cleared up. But as the mother of a 3-year-old and 8-month-old, the advice was impossible to follow. Although she washed frequently and thought she'd done all she could to avoid spreading, Graves' oldest child soon had pink eye and was also prescribed antibiotics. But Shook says antibiotics shouldn't be the answer for patients like Graves, an adult who can help prevent spreading, and her son, who wasn't in daycare or school at the time.

"We do people a disservice by prescribing antibiotics too often in cases like this, where they don't really help and they don't prevent spreading,” says Shook. “What we end up with are these ‘supergerms’ that we're seeing that don't respond to antibiotics -- then what can we do? In the long run, it's better just to ride it out.”