what I've been dealing with for a week

A Great Eye, wreathed in flame:

A bit of research indicates that conjunctivitis, colloquially called pink eye, comes in three major forms and a few minor forms. The three major forms are viral, bacterial, and allergic. Viral is by far the most common major form. Minor forms of conjunctivitis are often related to STDs like gonorrhea and syphilis. Detail-oriented doctors will determine what type of conjunctivitis you have (via swab and Petri dish), then prescribe the appropriate meds for it. Less scrupulous docs (like mine) will play the odds and prescribe meds for what they guess you probably have. I was given eye drops of the hangsaengje/항생제 variety, i.e., antibiotics. If what I have is viral, then antibiotics won't work: I'd need anti-viral meds.

Last night, I over-applied the meds I got from the pharmacy, and my eye was left throbbing in agony. Eye drops normally have some combination of disinfectant and vasoconstrictor: the vasoconstrictor narrows the swollen capillaries, thereby reducing redness, while the disinfectant deals with the underlying viral or bacterial infection. A mild disinfectant could take the form of mere saline solution; the medicine I have (I haven't checked the label to see the specific chemicals) is probably a bit more aggressive than saline. Today, I'm following the instructions to the letter: no more than 1-2 drops per application, with a max of three applications per day. So far, no pain. But as you see, my eye is still pretty inflamed.

If this keeps up for a week, I'll go visit an eye specialist. The pink eye I've had in the past has always gone away in a day or so, so this is not normal. Another note: this morning, my eye was still painful from yesterday, so I came into work wearing only one contact lens. I've done such a thing before; I remember hearing, years ago, that wearing a single lens can fuck up your brain, but I've found that not to be the case: you can get used to anything, including seeing clearly out of only one eye. And as you can see, I'm still able to type.

It burns!