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:
- Feeling of sand or dirt
- Discharge that might vary in color, including clear, green, white, or yellow
- Swelling if the white of your eye
- Crust forms on your eyelids and lashes
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:
- Antiviral
- Antibiotic
- Antifungal
- Anti-inflammatory
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
- Tea tree essential oil: antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antiviral, and fungicide
- Lavender essential oil: anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antiviral
- Roman chamomile essential oil: antispasmodic, antiseptic, antibiotic, antidepressant, and anti-inflammatory
- Myrrh essential oil: antimicrobial, astringent, expectorant, antifungal, stomachic, antiseptic, immune booster, anti-inflammatory, and antispasmodic
- Clove essential oil: anesthetic, antimicrobial, antifungal, antiseptic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and antibiotic
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:
- Large glass bottles with removable glass dropper
- GMO-free and cruelty-free
- Strong scent that lasts
Cons:
- They don’t list testing results online or claim to use a third party
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:
- Money back guarantee
- Small batch produced with quality in mind
Cons:
- Built-in dropper can be a pain
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:
- GC/MS test results available on request
- Strong scent
Cons:
- Built in style dropper
- Bottles might leak
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:
- Money back guarantee
- Spicy aroma
Cons:
- European-style dropper bottles
5. Roman Chamomile Essential Oil by HANA
HANA offers beautifully packaged essential oils with a focus on quality.
Pros:
- Blending suggestions
- Clean, relaxing scent
Cons:
- No third-party testing information available, but they do list their distillation facility
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.