What is eye discharge?
Eye discharge is the gunk that your eye sheds to clean itself. Your eye washes itself constantly, using a combination of tears and mucus. Normally, you blink away this discharge during the day. During the night, eye gunk might build up at the edges of your eyes because you weren’t blinking. This is normal.
But you might have excessive or unusual eye discharge if your eye is irritated or inflamed. This could be a sign of infection, allergies, dry eyes or other issues. Abnormal eye discharge is different from “sleep” in your eyes or watery eyes. If it’s abnormal, the texture, color or amount of discharge is unusual for you.
What’s the difference between normal vs. abnormal eye discharge?
Normal eye discharge is debris trapped in your eye mucus. Your conjunctiva, the clear membrane that covers the white of your eye, produces mucus to help lubricate your eye and carry debris away. When eye mucus traps debris, it can make “eye boogers,” the same way mucus makes boogers in your nose.
You might think of normal eye discharge as:
- Eye goop.
- Eye gunk.
- Eye boogers.
- “Sleep” in your eyes.
Abnormal eye discharge is more abundant and more noticeable than normal eye discharge. It looks or feels like your eye is working hard to clean itself. It might seem watery but leave a crusty residue that sticks your eyelids together. Or it might be sticky, or have an unusual color, like yellow or green.
Abnormal eye discharge includes:
- Green eye discharge.
- Yellow eye discharge.
- Excessive eye discharge.
- Sticky eye discharge.
- Foamy eye discharge.
- Pus ball at the corner of your eye.
Abnormal eye discharge may also come with other symptoms, like:
- Eye pain.
- Eye itching.
- Red eye.
- Swollen eyelids.
- Eyelid crusting.
- A bump on your eyelid.
- Trouble opening or closing your eye.
- A gritty feeling in your eye.
- Blurred vision.
- Light sensitivity.
Possible Causes
What causes eye discharge?
Normal eye discharge is the collection of mucus, tears, old skin cells and environmental debris that your eye routinely clears away. This is always happening, although you might not always notice it. You might see more gunk collected at the edges of your eye if the water from your tear film has evaporated.
Eye discharge is always a cleaning mechanism. But unusual discharge means something about the cleaning job is abnormal. Your eye might be trying to remove something especially irritating. If you have an eye infection, your immune system might be sending white blood cells to remove it, creating pus.
Causes of abnormal eye discharge
Common causes of abnormal eye discharge include:
Pink eye (conjunctivitis)
Pink eye (conjunctivitis) is inflammation of your conjunctiva, the membrane that lines your inner eyelids and the white part of your eye. When your conjunctiva is inflamed, it makes your eye red (or pink) and triggers excessive discharge. Pink eye discharge may be watery or mucus-like and may leave a crusty residue. Depending on the cause, it might be white, yellow or green. Bacterial infectionsand viral infections are common causes. Allergenslike pollen, dander and dust may also cause pink eye.
Keratitis
Keratitis is inflammation of your cornea, the clear window that covers your iris and pupil. Less common types of infections can cause it, including fungal infections, parasites (acanthamoeba keratitis)and herpes simplex viruses in your eye (ocular herpes). You can also get a bacterial infection from leaving your contacts in too long. Other irritations can also cause keratitis, but infections are more likely to cause discharge. An untreated infection could lead to a corneal ulcer, causing thick pus discharge
