A low-irritation medication for treatment and prevention of eye infections is provided by a preparing a composition of povidone-iodine (PVP-I), N-acetylcysteine (NAC), and an aqueous solution. The composition is then applied to the eye of a patient. The composition is shown to be effective at resolving viral conjunctivitis within 48 hours even at lower concentrations. The composition is also shown to be effective at treating other eye infections, and at reducing causes of infectious to prevent antisepsis during surgery. The composition may be as much as 80% PVP-I by volume without requiring anesthetic to reduce irritation to tolerable levels upon application to the eyeball, and both 10% PVP-I, 1% NAC and 5% PVP-I, 0.5% N NAC compositions are shown to be less irritating than a 1.25% PVP-I composition without NAC.