 [ Symptoms ] after start of treatment how long is pink eye contagious [ Disease ] since antibiotic eye drops are used from 5 10 days and not all pink eye conjunctivitis is bacterial viral and allergic conjunctivitis does not respond to antibiotic drops i usually tell my patients to use the drops at least 24 hours and see an improvement before returning to school assuming this is a child the drops should be administered at school on the same schedule adults are less likely to spread this infection simply because they practice a higher level of personal hygiene so returning to work is usually not restricted unless the infection is extensive