When to Seek Treatment for Eye Trauma

Your eyes are an integral and valuable part of your body, so if they experience any trauma, it’s important to know when you need to seek treatment to preserve your sight.

At Retina Specialists, our team of board-certified ophthalmologists has the experience and expertise to diagnose and treat all types of eye trauma at our five locations in and around Dallas, Texas. Here, we describe a number of different conditions and what you should do about them.

Causes of eye trauma

Some of the most common causes of eye injuries include:

• Punches
• Blows from sports equipment or other players
• Bits of material from industrial work
• Flying objects like bullets, darts, fireworks, and BBs
• Chemical splashes
• Protests, riots, and uncontrolled crowds

You may encounter any number of symptoms from each of these injuries, including:

• Ongoing eye pain
• Difficulty seeing
• Cut or torn eyelid
• One eye doesn’t move as well as the other
• One eye protrudes from its socket farther than the other
• The eye’s pupil in an unusual size or shape
• There’s blood in the conjunctiva (white part)
• There’s something in the eye or under the eyelid that tears don’t remove

Consider all of these injuries and symptoms as serious until or unless your ophthalmologist tells you otherwise.                                 

What to do for specific eye trauma

Here are a number of common eye traumas and what you should do about them.

Scratched eye (corneal abrasion)

Common causes of corneal abrasions are getting poked in the eye or rubbing the eye when there’s a foreign body present, like dust or sand. These abrasions are very uncomfortable and lead to eye redness and severe sensitivity to light.

Scratches may not seem like such a big deal, but they can make your eye susceptible to bacterial or fungal infection. Certain strains can enter the eye through a scratch and cause harm, up to and including blindness, in as little as 24 hours. This is particularly true if whatever scratched your eye is dirty or contaminated.

If your eye is scratched, don't rub it. And don't patch your eye, because bacteria like warm, dark places to grow, and a patch could provide the ideal environment. Keep the eye closed or loosely tape it shut. See your doctor as soon as possible.

Penetrating or foreign objects in the eye

If a foreign object like a metal shard or a fish hook embeds itself in your eye, go to the emergency room/urgent care center right away. You could cause more injury if you try to remove the object yourself or if you rub your eye. Cover the eye with a loose shield till you find help.

Your eye may also have foreign bodies embedded in the cornea — small, sharp pieces of metal that are stuck but haven’t penetrated into the interior of the eye. Since metal can quickly form a rust ring and a significant corneal scar, you need to see a doctor to remove the foreign bodies as soon as possible.

Chemical burns

Getting splashed or sprayed in the eye by liquid chemicals can be scary. Some substances burn or sting but are relatively harmless, while others can cause serious or permanent injury. The composition of the chemical involved can make a lot of difference.

As a general rule, acids cause a lot of redness and burning, but they can be washed out relatively easily.

Chemicals that are basic (alkali) are much more serious than acids but may not seem so because they don't cause as much immediate pain or redness. Some examples of alkalis are oven cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, and chalk dust.

If you get splashed in the eye, put your head under the tap with a steady stream of barely warm water for about 15 minutes. Just let the water run into your eye and down your face.

Then call Retina Specialists or an emergency room/urgent care center to see what’s recommended. Explain exactly what kind of substance got into your eye and what you've done about it so far.

If you already know your eye is at risk because it's extremely red or blurry, come to our office or go to an emergency room or urgent care center immediately after you've rinsed it with water. Place a cool, moist compress on your eye, but don't rub it.

Depending on the substance and how quickly you get help, the effects of chemical exposures can range from minor irritation and red eyes to serious eye damage and even blindness. Only the doctor can evaluate it properly.

You should treat all eye injuries as potential emergencies and never take risks with your sight. Don’t wait to get help. Give Retina Specialists a call at any of our locations (Dallas, DeSoto, Plano, Mesquite, and Waxahachie) to schedule an urgent appointment.