One of the best ways to learn how to avoid a medical condition is learning how people often get it to begin with. For this reason, knowing how to get pink eye may help you actually avoid it. Just consider the many ways that this condition often spreads.
Germs
The contagious forms of pink eye, such as the viral and bacterial types, are typically caused by germs. This means that if you have pink eye, you were in contact with germs, either in the form of a virus or bacteria. The following are common reasons that you may get pink eye:
- Sharing eye makeup or pillowcases with someone else
- Rubbing your eyes without first washing your hands
- Wearing someone else’s used contact lenses
- Being in contact with others who have pink eye
- Being too close to a sick person, especially if they are coughing and sneezing
Since considering any of these steps can tell you how to get pink eye, you should try to avoid them in order to stay as healthy as possible.
Allergies and Other Irritants
Of course, not every form of pink eye is caused by germs. It may be caused by chemicals, allergies, or dry eye. The good news is that you can typically just try to stay away from these irritants once you know what they are. The following are ways that many people get the forms of pink eye that are not contagious:
- Touching chemicals and then rubbing the eyes
- Touching substances that you are allergic to and then rubbing the eyes
- Allowing contact lenses to come in contact with irritants, including soap, alcohol, dirt, or other harmful substances
- Neglecting to keep the eyes protected from wind or sun via sunglasses or wide brimmed hats
- Forgetting to keep dry eyes moist with eye drops on particularly dry days
If you do any of these actions, you should stop so that you can avoid getting any form of pink eye.