My kids had bacterial pink eye (strep, in their case) just a couple of weeks ago. For what it's worth, our eye doctor advised me to use OTC polysporin ointment (not neosporin, which has an additional antibiotic ingredient which is irritating to the eye). It says right on the tube, "do not use in eyes," but our doc said to go ahead. He said it was essentially the same as the prescription eye ointment made by the same company. Anyway, we used it twice a day, and their very swollen, red, painful, goopy eyes were completely better within about a day and a half. As an adult, I'd prefer to use a drop because the ointment obstructs your vision for a while, but I'll probably carry some polysporin in our first aid kit after this.