Eye Injury Treatment in El Cajon, CA

Eyes do not heal as quickly as other bodily tissues and therefore require great care. For a minor abrasion, it should heal on its own in a few days. For a more severe injury, it can take significantly longer, if it fully heals at all. While your eye is healing, avoid rubbing or touching it. If you have damaged your eye or eyes, it is important to seek medical attention immediately.

Impact on the eye: Treatment for an impact on the eye depends on the amount of force that was applied. To reduce pain and swelling, a more minor impact is best treated by gently applying a small cold compress. Contact your optometrist or emergency room medical team right away if the impact causes significant swelling, pain, or visual disturbance.

Scratch to the eye: To properly check it out, a scratch of the eye requires you see an optometrist as soon as possible. While minor irritations to the eye may heal on their own, it is difficult to determine the severity of the scratch and could lead to something far more serious. While blinking, rinse your eye with a sterile saline solution. As it may worsen the damage, do not rub the eye. The best approach is simply keeping the eye closed until you can get proper attention.

Chemical burns: Chemical burns to the eye can result from inadvertently rubbing your eyes and transferring the chemical from your hand to the eye or by a direct splash or spray of a chemical. Flushing the eye with sterile eyewash solution for 15 minutes is the best first aid solution. Acids can be rinsed out quite easily, but contacting the eye with an alkali or basic solution is much more serious. Regardless of the chemical type, contact your optometrist immediately to find out what else is recommended.

Inflammation of the iris: Contact with the eyeball or an impact can cause inflammation of the iris. This serious condition requires immediate assessment and treatment by a professional. To reduce the likelihood of permanent damage to the eye and resulting decreased vision, immediate action is required. Before seeking medical attention, no specific treatment is required.

Bleeding in the eye: Also known as a subconjunctival hemorrhage, bleeding from the eye can be quite common and occurs from even minor eye injuries or impacts. Making for quite a dramatic looking injury, the bleeding may be limited to a small section of the eye, or it can extend over the entire eye. This condition does not create any risk or serious impact or vision loss and is typically painless. While medical intervention is not always required, it is highly recommended to see your optometrist to ensure there is no underlying issue. Over the course of several weeks, the eye should heal. The eye will return to a normal appearance as the blood noticeably clears.

If an injury to your eye results in vision loss, blurred vision, disorientation or a physical laceration on the eye, contact your healthcare professional immediately. Even if it doesn’t seem serious, eye injuries can quickly become severe.

See an eye doctor or go to an emergency medical facility immediately if a foreign object such as metal or a fish hook penetrates your eye. If you attempt to remove the object yourself or if you rub your eye, you could cause even more injury to your eye. If possible, for protection try loosely securing an eye shield or paper cup over your eye, then seek help.

Foreign bodies, such as small, sharp pieces of a substance that has become embedded in the eye’s surface (cornea), but have not penetrated into the interior of the eye may result from an eye injury. Foreign bodies such as metal can quickly form a ring of rust and produce a significant scar. These foreign bodies should be removed by your eye doctor as soon as possible.

Visit East County Urgent Care and Walk-In Clinic for more information. We serve patients from El Cajon CA, Wells Park CA, Rancho San Diego CA, Hillsdale CA, Alpine CA, Santee CA, Jamul CA, and BEYOND.