Eye Injuries

What To Do In Case Of Eye Injuries?

Important Tips To Prevent Them

If not treated in time, eye injuries can cause severe damage. Eye injuries are sometimes mechanical or sometimes chemical. The first one is grave, whereas the second one has vision-threatening consequences. You must visit an eye specialist as early as possible, no matter your vision power decrease or not. Eye injuries always evoke panic reactions which are not helpful for your health. So, taking medical facilities are recommended at the earliest.

When you must seek immediate help from a doctor?

Here is a list of a few symptoms when you must visit your eye specialist

  • You are facing any trouble or any pain in your vision.

  • If you have any cut or laceration of the eyelid.

  • If you can’t move one of your eyelids because of the injuries or if it is not synchronous.

  • If you feel one of your eyes bulges out of the eye socket, as compared to the other eye.

  • If you feel the pupil size or shape of one eye differ from the other eye.

Eye injury

  • If you see any blood vessel in front of the iris ( iris is the blackish-brown or bluish-green part of the eye), you must visit an eye specialist. This content is called hyphema.

  • If one of the iris is protruding out of the eye.

  • If you feel something is there in the eye or under the eyelid or on the cornea that you cannot remove by flushing with water

  • If you feel double vision or blurred vision

  • If Flashes of lights, spots or floaters, coloured halos, or shadows irritates your eyes

What you can do when you are feeling something is in the eyes

  • Avoid rubbing your eyes.

  • You can pull down the upper lid and try to blink repeatedly.

  • Avoid wearing contact lenses. Prefer to use glasses as much as possible.

  • Avoid using tweezers or any cotton buds to the cornea

  • You can use a sterile cotton bud to remove the speck from the eye. But it is better to leave that to the doctor.

  • You must wash your eyes with drinking water.

  • If you feel your speck does not wash out, you must visit your doctor.

Cuts/ stabs/jabs/ lacerations in the eye/ iris protruding

  • Stop rubbing your eyes.

  • Stop washing your eyes.

  • Avoid removing by yourself if any foreign body is stuck in the eyes.

  • You can cover your eyes with a sterile bandage or you can use a clean handkerchief. But if you want to keep this safe, you can gently place a shield over the eyes. In this case, you can use the bottom of a paper cup. Try not to touch the eyes at all.

  • You must stop using aspirin, ibuprofen or other painkillers as these drugs are responsible for thinning the blood. It can increase bleeding also.

  • You must seek immediate medical attention in this situation.

Blunt trauma

  • Blunt trauma is responsible for innocuous injuries like subconjunctival haemorrhage, black eye, and extensive injuries like globe rupture, fracture of bones of the orbit, lens injury and retinal swelling and detachment.

  • But if you see, your eyes to be prominently black, you can take cold compression first. Then if it doesn’t help you must visit a doctor.

  • You must avoid giving any pressure on the eyes.

  • Never do your self-medication with your eyes. Always prefer to talk to your eye doctor before using any external thing. If someone suggested you take drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen or any other painkiller, you must avoid that. They are responsible thinning of the blood and can increase bleeding.

Chemical Exposure

  • Do not rub your eyes.

  • Avoid contact lenses and try to carry your glasses.

  • Try to wash your eyes with drinking water for at least ten to fifteen minutes.

  • You can use drinking water and put them into cupped palms and then you can lower your face into that water and blink rapidly.

  • After that, you have to tilt your face under the shower or any running water and then you have to stream water into the eyes so that it can meticulously remove any chemicals.

  • You can try to irritate your eyes with any lubricating eye drops or any antibiotic drops.

  • You cannot bandage your eyes.

  • You must seek immediate medical assistance

How eye injuries can be prevented?

There are various types of safety precautions that can be taken during work and sports. Here is a list that can prevent eye injuries.

  • You must use eye protection while you are hammering any metal thing or you are using any Power tools or any kind of chemicals in front of your eyes. You have to use this eye protection if you are related to sports that involve any kind of balls or shuttlecocks.

  • There is various type of protective eyewear that can range from glasses, goggles and face shield to proper helmets with shatterproof visors. But that should be depended on the activity you are doing.

  • All industrial employers should be responsible for the health of the employees and they should provide personal protective equipment or PPE for the protection of the eyes and face of the workers. In this case, PPE should be designed according to the needs of the workers. As they are primarily designed to prevent or lessen the severity of injuries but not for the particular work environment. This is very helpful in case of heat, radiation, chemical, dust and so on.

  • You should maintain hygiene while you are using your contact lenses and you must follow your doctor’s instructions in that case.

  • You must follow all the safety measurements while you are using firecrackers. Universal fire precautions become helpful to avoid eye injuries.

Public awareness plays an important role while eye injuries are concerned. For example, in the festive season of Holi, you must be careful from hurled water balloons, bows or arrows can injure your eyes during Dussehra, ‘rockets’ often injure eyes during Diwali. These are a few examples that cause eye injuries during festivals.