Something's awry with your eye. It could be an infection, but it could also be a half dozen other things, too. Before you start flipping out and head into panic mode, you need to know that eye infection symptoms are almost the exact same symptoms experienced by other problems with your eyes. The following health problems have accompanying issues with your eyes, which is why it is difficult to determine on your own (and without an eye infection doctor's help) exactly what is going on.

Allergies

Number one on the list of really confusing eye conditions is allergies. Allergies and eye infections both have itchy, watery, pink-tinged eyes as symptoms. The noticeable differences are that eye allergies will have other symptoms accompanying them, such as sneezing, runny nose, and recent contact with an allergen. If you take an allergy medication or use allergy eye drops and your eyes are suddenly fine, it is not an eye infection. It is just an allergy.

Something in Your Eye

All it takes is an eyelash, a fleck of dust, a tiny piece of glass, etc., and you are tearing up and rubbing your eye like crazy. Hopefully, the object in your eye is not glass, since rubbing can cause serious damage to your eyeball. Be sure to pull your eyelids up and down to check for foreign objects. The tricky part about something in your eye and confusing it with an infection is that an infection usually only attacks one eyeball too. The difference is that an infection is persistent and will only get worse, while the foreign object will either be washed out or removed and then your eye is fine.

A Sty 

A sty is an obnoxious blockage of an eyelash follicle. Like an infection, it will cause pain, tenderness to the eyelid, swelling, and occasionally, itching. A sty, however, will go away on its own, and the pain and tenderness are easily relieved by cold and hot compresses on the closed eye. Once you see the swelling on the lid near your eyelashes, you will know for certain whether you have a sty. If the sty does not go away after a few days, then see your eye doctor to determine how to treat the sty as it may have become infected.

For more information, contact a medical office like Vision Eyeland Super Optical LLC.