What Are Eye Emergencies and What Can You When Experiencing One?

Eye emergencies, just like any other emergency, can never be predicted. You could be in the park with your children, at work, enjoying an outdoor sport, and suddenly something goes wrong with your eyes. Panic is your worst enemy at this time since you might escalate the issue in your attempts to make things better.

For this reason, you need to be mentally prepared with the right information so that you act promptly. This is why knowing the location and having the contacts of an emergency eye clinic that offers emergency eye care in Scarborough, ON, makes a big difference during such times.

Our Scarborough optometrist has prepared for you some advice that will help you when such an unfortunate event occurs.

Eye Emergency 101

By definition, an eye emergency may refer to an abrupt onset of symptoms or if you experience any obvious trauma that can affect your vision. Ideally, our faces were designed to protect your eyes. This is why it’s usually tricky to injure the eyeball directly. Many times, the injuries that people face are the ones that affect the structures around the eyeball, such as skin, bone, and eyelids.

However, when your eyeball is injured, then the situation is more difficult. This means that if you don’t get immediate attention, things can get worse. Eye emergencies are time-sensitive issues that need to be addressed immediately to avoid further eye damage, including permanent vision loss.

Here are some indicators that you may have an eye emergency and need to seek eye emergency care in Scarborough, ON:

• Your eye is bleeding
• Eye pain
• Severe photophobia or light sensitivity
• Contact lenses that split in the eye
• A foreign object stuck in the eye
• Bruising around your eye
• Swollen or bulging eye
• Blood spots in the white of the eye
• Pupils that are unequal in size
• Eye discharge
• Severe burning or itchiness
• Sudden vision loss or double vision
• Suspected eye infection

An essential thing to note is that an optometrist can treat a vast number of eye emergencies. Therefore, seek immediate help by calling our Scarborough optometrist when you are in an eye emergency.

Prevalent Eye Emergencies and What You Should Do

For you not to grapple in the dark trying to figure out what you need to do, you need to know the necessary first aid responses to implement as you make your way to the hospital. In addition, you should avoid doing the following:

• Attempt to remove the foreign objects that are embedded in your eye
• Put medication or ointment in your eye
• Use swabs or tweezers in your eye
• Rub your eye

First Aid Tips

• Foreign Objects

When there is a foreign object in your eye, your instinct is always to remove it by rubbing your eye. However, try as much as you can not to rub your eye since there is a chance that you might damage your eyes further.

If there isn’t any object embedded in your eye, you can try to remove the foreign object by flushing it out. However, you will need to clean your hands with soap and water to avoid contaminating your eye. If you have saline water, that would be better. If not, you can use clean water.

• Chemical Exposure

If you are exposed to harmful chemicals and have worn contact lenses, do not remove them using your fingers. Please use a saline solution to flush your contacts out. Leaving in your contacts can cause unnecessary damage since the contacts can trap chemicals against the cornea.

After flushing them out, you need to seek medical help immediately.

• Traumatic Eye Injuries

After any trauma to the eye, you can apply a cold compress to reduce the pain and swelling. However, while using the cold compress, avoid putting pressure.

If you have punctures or cuts to the eyelid or the eye, don’t try to remove anything embedded in the eye. Also, don’t wash the eyelid or the eye. If you can, try to cover the eye with something protective to act as an eye shield.

Eye emergencies are delicate and time-sensitive. Don’t hesitate to call our Scarborough optometrist at Dr. Allyson Tang Optometrist if you are in an emergency.