Maybe there's an easier way to treat conjunctivitis. (oral antibiotic instead of eye drops or ointment)

Many of you have gone through this scenario. Your two-year-old wakes up some morning with blood-shot eyes and a goopy, gross discharge sticking to the lids or running down the cheeks. This, of course, is conjunctivitis, an all-too-common scourge of childhood. So you call the doctor and are usually told something like, "No problem. Just have your pharmacist call me. I'll get you some eye ointment. Put it in four times a day for about a week. Simple. It'll clear right up." "Thank you, doctor," you politely say. But if you've been through this before, what you really want to say is, "No problem, my foot! How would you like to come over to my house, Doc, and try putting that stuff …