this came up in another thread when someone was talking about irritated foreskins in little boys.

and i said that since I don;t have any sons, I don;t have fdirect expeience but maybe eyebright herb would help because it;s so wonderful for irritated eyes and conjunctivitis...that old bane of preschool and school-aged kids, pinkeye..


here's the deal...


most conjunctivitis, whether it;s bacterial or not is self-limiting and will be gone in 2 weeks anyway, sort of like a stubborn cold...but kids rub their eyes and then touch stuff so much that it;s considered an 'exclusion" condition at schools and camps.

plus it's kind of a drag, crusty eyes especially in the morning with your eyelashes sticking together... Ig et it occasionally, usually when there are two factors converging such as having a slight cold and then getting too much campfire smoke or polluted air in my already irritated eyes...

someone asked about this on another thread. eyebright infusion is GREAT for heealing conjunctivitis.

eyebright is a Euphrasia...can;t rremember the species name but that's the genus, and maybe there is more than one species that works medicinally; I need to look it up.
most herb stores and natural foods stores sell it in powdered form, either in bulk or in capsules. because it;s considered an 'invasive" weed, you can;'t buy the un-powdered herb in california; I'm not sure about other places. (the less ground-up any herb is, the better in terms of freshness and potency, but you do what you can...) ou can also buy a tincture in alcohol. as with most herbs, if you can get certified organic or ethically wildcrafted, so jmuch the better; it;s going on a sensitive area of your body with lots of blood vessels, after all. let the hot water steep the herb for a good 15 to 20 minutes.


I brew a strong infusion, a good tablespoon of dried eyebright herb to a cup of water. I;d probably make a whole quart/liter at a time since I'm going to be using it as a compress. in case you aren;t familiar with making infusions...bring the water to a boil separately, then pour it over the herb and cover it. you can drink the tea if you like...it's also good for respiratory allergies. dip a clean soft cotton cloth in the warm tea and lie down with the compress on your eyes (you might want a little plastic sheeting of some kind under your head to keep your pillow or bed from getting too soggy) when it;s cool, change the compress - yoou can handwash and rinse, and then boil it in fresh water to get rid of any infectious stuff in there.

alternatively, you can also make a sort of pouch or large 'tea bag" or two (enough to cover at least one eye) and use the reusable tea bags as our compresses. they even sell some pre-made eyebright tea bags for this purpose, but it;s kind of an expensive way 9eyebright is not an expensive herb...an ounce in dried bulk herb will generally cost a few dollars.)

I recommended this for my friend's daughter a few years ago and they called me up to say the pinkeye was completely gone in two or three days...olike I say, it can take a week or two otherwise.

if I only had a tincture to use, I;d probably add 20 drops per cup of boiling water...again, don;t cook it on the stove, jsut let it sit, not so important to cver it since the alcohol has already extracted the active principles here...but if the alcohol doesn;t evaporate off, it might irritate some kids'
eyes a bit...see what works.

chamomile tea bags are also very soothing for pinkeye and other irritated eye problems, and it;s pretty easy to find certified organic chamomile tea in bags these days.

ginger tea might also help, but keep it mild. since ginger is a root/rhizome, you can and probably sould simemr slices of fresh ginger directly in our fresh water. I haven;t tried adding flax seeds personally, but since they are ratehr gelatinous and soothihng to mucosa, they too might be of help.

good luck!