Serious eye injuries are not only among the most painful and uncomfortable, but the long-term damage that they can cause is obvious and frightening. Vision loss and blindness can result if an eye injury is serious enough and not managed quickly and correctly, and the eye may never recover. Fortunately, eye injuries are also among the most easily treated as long as you know what to do.
Common Eye Injuries
Most eye injuries fit into a small number of categories, and the type shapes everything about how you respond.
Surface injuries are the most common. A corneal abrasion is a scratch to the clear dome covering the front of your eye, caused by anything from a fingernail to a piece of grit, and it produces sharp pain, heavy tearing, and light sensitivity out of proportion to how small the cause was. A foreign body, whether dust, a metal shaving, or a wood chip, sits on the surface of the eye or traps itself under your eyelid and scratches the cornea every time you blink.
The consequences of blunt trauma and chemical burns can extend well beyond the surface. A hard blow to the area around the eye socket pools blood under the skin and produces the swelling of a black eye, which is usually a closed injury, meaning the eyeball has not been punctured. Chemical burns from household cleaners, acids, or alkalis are more immediately dangerous.
A penetrating eye injury, where a sharp object such as glass, a nail, or a metal fragment pierces the outer wall of the eye, is a medical emergency and requires a different response entirely from every other injury type covered here.
Signs and Symptoms of an Eye Injury
Eye injuries do not always look serious from the outside. Pain and tearing are the most immediate signals, though they are not reliable guides to severity. A corneal abrasion produces intense pain and heavy watering because the cornea is dense with nerve endings, yet the scratch itself may be tiny. Redness and light sensitivity tend to accompany it. A penetrating injury can cause less pain than you would expect because the interior of the eye has fewer pain receptors than the surface.
Changes to your vision are a more reliable indicator that something serious is happening. Blurriness, double vision, or a sudden loss of part of your visual field after any eye injury all warrant urgent medical attention. Flashes of light or new floating spots after a blow to the eye can signal retinal detachment, which requires treatment quickly and should not be left to resolve on its own.
Two symptoms call for an immediate trip to the emergency department regardless of how the injury feels. If blood is visible inside the white of your eye after a blunt impact, it may indicate bleeding inside the eye that needs assessment. If your pupil looks teardrop-shaped, off-centre, or different from your other eye, that is a sign of serious structural damage inside the eye itself.
First Aid to Treat Eye Injuries
The right first aid response for eye injuries depends almost entirely on the type of injury in front of you, and choosing the wrong one can make things worse.
For a foreign body or a chemical burn, blinking may be enough to wash out a small surface particle on its own, but if that does not clear it, you need to flush the eye with water or saline, after first removing any contact lenses if you can.
A chemical burn skips that waiting step entirely: get to a tap, an eyewash station, or a shower immediately and start flushing. In those first moments, clean tap water started immediately does more good than the ideal solution started late. After flushing, go to the emergency department regardless of whether the burning sensation has eased.
A penetrating or embedded object requires you to stop and cover, not flush or compress. Rest a clean pad or cup against the bones around the eye so that nothing touches the eyeball itself, keep both eyes looking straight ahead to minimise movement, and go to the emergency department immediately. Both eyes move together, so keeping the uninjured eye still reduces movement in the injured one.
What NOT to Do
Several common instincts make eye injuries worse rather than better. Rubbing is the most damaging reflex to resist. When something is in your eye, the urge to rub is immediate, but rubbing can scratch the cornea or drive a foreign body deeper into the tissue. Along the same lines, do not attempt to pick out or remove an object that is embedded in or through the eye.
Do not put drops, ointment, or any medication in the eye unless a doctor has directed you to. Over-the-counter drops can mask symptoms, contaminate the eye surface, or interfere with the examination at the emergency department.
Learn First Aid
Most eye injuries can be handled by running under water or, in serious cases, quickly going to the hospital. But the technique to properly flush an injured eye takes care and practice. This level of care, and the ability to identify eye injuries are things you can learn by taking a first aid course. By enrolling today and not waiting until after an injury when it’s too late, you can help keep someone’s eye working perfectly.
FAQs
How Long Does a Corneal Abrasion Take to Heal?
Most minor corneal abrasions heal within 24 to 48 hours with appropriate care. Larger or deeper scratches may take up to a week to close.
Can a Blow to the Eye Cause Glaucoma?
A blunt impact that causes bleeding inside the front chamber of the eye raises your lifelong risk of developing glaucoma. The blood can damage the drainage structures inside the eye, which over time leads to elevated pressure and optic nerve damage.
Should I Avoid Painkillers After an Eye Injury?
Aspirin and ibuprofen thin the blood and can worsen or trigger rebleeding after a blunt eye injury. Paracetamol is the safer option for pain relief while you wait for medical assessment.
