This health hack is a sight for sore eyes.
This health hack is a sight for sore eyes.
Retina surgeon Dr. Park (@drpark524) has discovered the “secret” pink eye treatment that doctors used on themselves but don’t usually offer to patients.
“The way eye doctors treat each other for pink eye is very different from how they treat you for pink eye when you get it,” he admitted on TikTok.
If you’ve ever had viral conjunctivitis, more commonly called pink eye, and went to the doctor, they probably sent you home without a prescription – just some frustrating advice to stay home, don’t touch it, and wait for it to clear up. until itself.
But Dr. Park says that when the docs themselves come down with that red, oozing mess, they get better much faster with an over-the-counter cure.
The secret? Betadine Topical, an antiseptic solution that you can find at any pharmacy.
He said doctors will first numb his eyes — though he didn’t specify what — then add a few drops of Betadine to each eye, let it sit, and rinse it out.
“It shortens the duration of your symptoms by a few days,” he said. “It lowers the viral load and you’re basically on your feet, ready to go back to normal life much, much faster.”
The active ingredient in Betadine is povidone-iodine, an antiseptic that can kill bacteria, viruses and fungi.
Some studies have shown that Betadine improves pink eye. However, at least one has shown that it may only be effective against bacterial and chlamydial pink eye and not viral pink eye.
According to Dr. Park, this particular treatment is an example of when there is a lot of science and data to support a therapy, but there is “no clear profit motive or incentive,” it’s like “it doesn’t even exist.” That’s because there’s no procedure code for it that doctors can bill for — so he says many won’t offer it.
However, some doctors do.
“I have patients who close their eyelids and move their eyes around to ensure wide coverage,” Tammy Than, OD, MS, an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry, told the Review of Optometry.
She explained that she also wipes her eyelids with the solution, lets them sit for two minutes, and then rinses her eyes.
“Although this off-label use of povidone-iodine has gained favor with many practitioners, it has not been embraced by the entire profession,” she added. “There is a need for a well-designed study. If the findings are favorable, then we will be able to practice good, sound, evidence-based medicine and provide quick and effective relief to patients who can often suffer for weeks.
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Image Source : nypost.com