Cucumbers for Allergic Eyes?

I recently saw one of our pediatric neurologists in our office.  She had brought in her son for his swollen, irritated eyes.  In the realm of conjunctivitis, I entertain the possibilities of allergic, bacterial or viral etiologies.  With allergic conjunctivitis, the patient's eyes are usually swollen, sometimes red, with lots of watery discharge.  Usually the parents will also report sneezing and runny-nose type symptoms as well.  With cases of bacterial conjunctivitis, or classic "pink eye," the child has red eyes and thick yellow-green discharge.  Viral conjucntivitis commonly accompanies a cold, with milder symptoms of redness and discharge.  It may be difficult to distinguish a bacterial from a viral conjunctivitis.

The pediatric neurologist's child was clearly suffering from allergies, and she had been trying her own home remedy for him, applying cucumbers to his eyes at night.  We both laughed, as I jokingly told her, "I'm going to tell my patients that our esteemed pediatric neurologist treats her child with cucumbers."  But all kidding aside, I wonder if we discount home remedies too often.  It's so easy in modern medicine to place all faith in FDA-approved drugs, with their researched half-lives, dosage guidelines, and side effect profiles.  And likewise, it's easy to dismiss alternative treatments and home remedies.  Problem is, medical school training and residency teaching does not focus on such therapies.  The cucumbers probably did help, with their cooling and astringent effects.

But then, ultimately, the child needed more than the cucumbers.  I prescribed him allergy eye drops and recommended Claritin or Zyrtec, and I am glad to say that they relieved his symptoms.