Eye Injuries: Emergency Room Near You
Eye injuries are usually the type of injuries we all would rather avoid. This is because of the importance of our eyes and the repercussions of such injuries, especially when it comes to our sight. However, as much as we would want to wish them away, eye injuries do occur, and can happen to anyone at any time. There are a number of scenarios that can lead to an eye injury from any sort of blunt object to the eye such as being hit by a baseball or getting punched in the eye during a fight, to chemicals getting splashed into our eyes and many others. Given that the tissues inside our eyes are extremely delicate, eye injuries are usually to be taken very seriously, especially when dealing with eye emergencies that require you to head over to an emergency room near you as soon as you can. If you have a foreign object in your eye, chemicals have gotten into your eye, or you have suffered an injury or burn in and around your eye, then that is what is usually referred to as an eye emergency and requires you to seek immediate emergency care. This article will look to shine a spotlight on the various eye injuries as well as when you should head to the emergency room for the same.
The first thing we are going to look at are the signs and symptoms that indicate that you may have suffered an eye injury. They include decreased or a loss of vision, burning or stinging in the eye, double vision, sensitivity to light, severe itching in the eye, severe and sudden onset headaches, bruising around you eye, bleeding from the eye, blood in the white part of your eye, eye pain, one eye bulging or sticking out, one eye not moving like the other, if your pupils are not even in size, if you notice discharge coming out of the eye, a torn eye lid among others. If you notice any of these symptoms, you should seek medical attention as soon as you can. If you have a piece of metal, glass or any other object stuck in your eye or if you suffer sudden vision loss, swelling, bleeding or pain, then you should visit an emergency room near you as soon as possible to be attended to.
If you suffer an eye injury, there are certain things you shouldn’t do no matter how tempted you are such as rubbing or applying pressure to your injured eye, applying medications or ointments in the injured eye as well as trying to remove any foreign objects that are stuck in your eye. If you wear contact lenses, don’t try and take them out when you suffer an eye injury as doing so may make the injury worse. However, if you suffer a chemical injury to the eye, and your contact lenses didn’t flush out with water then you should remove them. Do the same when you suffer a chemical injury to the eye and can’t receive immediate medical attention. Chemical injuries to the eye may be from cleaning products, industrial chemicals from work, aerosols, and fumes among others. It is also important to note that while early treatment of acid burns in the eye usually results in a good prognosis, alkaline burns are usually much worse and can lead to permanent damage of the cornea. Alkaline products include sodium hydroxide, lime, drain cleaners among others and you should take extra care when handling them. When you suffer a chemical injury to the eye, the first thing to do is wash your hands with soap and water to remove any chemicals that may have gotten to your hands then you tilt your head and ensure that the injured eye is down and to the side. You should then flush the eye with clean cool tap water for about 15 minutes as you hold your eyelid open. If you wear contact lenses and the flushing doesn’t remove them, then try to remove them as mentioned above. You should then get to an emergency room near you as soon as possible, and if there is no one around to drive you there, call 911. Continue flushing your eye as you wait for emergency services to arrive.
If you have a large foreign body such as a metal, glass or any other object stuck in your eye, don’t try to remove it. Head over to an emergency room near you as soon as possible or call 911 as this is a medical emergency. If you are with someone and the object is small, then have them cover your eye with a clean piece of cloth to reduce eye movements and prevent it any further injury until it is attended to. If you suffer a cut or scratch to the eyeball or eyelid, then you should also head over to an emergency room near you as soon as you can. A severe black eye, especially if it is accompanied by other symptoms that indicate that you may have suffered from another injury, should also lead to a visit to an emergency room near you.
From the above discussion, we hope that you will be able to know how to react to an eye injury if you suffer one and when you should head over to an emergency room near you so that you can get the treatment you require.
