Categories: Optometrist

Common Emergency Eye Care Services

Emergency eye care is needed if you find yourself dealing with a problem with your eye that causes pain or affects your vision. Failing to treat eye injuries as soon as they are detected can lead to permanent consequences, like reduced vision or blindness. Common eye injuries that require emergency eye care include:

Exposure to toxic chemicals
Getting hit in the neck, head, or face
Pieces of materials like glass, wood, or metal getting stuck in the eye

Getting the emergency eye care services that you need

Symptoms that let patients know that it is time to see an eye care professional include:

Blood coming out of an eyeball or its eyelid
Intense, sudden pain coming from an eye
Loss of vision
An object stuck in the eye

Treatments that an optometrist might use to address eye care emergencies include the following.

1. Foreign body extraction

Foreign bodies like dirt, sand, or an eyelash can sometimes get stuck in the eye, leading to pain, irritation, and inflammation. In some cases, the foreign body might pierce the eyeball and cause severe damage. An eyeball being damaged by a foreign object can lead to surrounding blood vessels becoming dilated, and it increases the risk of the eye getting infected. Anyone who finds themselves trying to remove a foreign object stuck in their eye for more than a few hours should immediately seek emergency eye care. An optometrist might be able to remove it by numbing the patient’s eye with an anesthetic eye drop, then rinsing off the foreign object or picking it out of the eye with a tool.

2. Eye infection treatment

Pink eye is one of the most common eye infections that optometrists deal with. A viral infection often causes it, and it is typically accompanied by a yellow discharge coming out of the eye. An optometrist can treat the infection by prescribing antibiotics.

Failing to get appropriate treatment for pink eye can lead to a more severe condition, known a corneal infiltrates. This leaves spots on the patient’s eye that limit their vision, and it requires urgent treatment to prevent it from causing vision loss.

Pink eye shares similar symptoms with other serious eye conditions, like ocular herpes, which can lead to blindness when left untreated. Therefore, people with pink eye-like symptoms should always get a proper diagnosis to ensure that they are not dealing with something more serious.

3. Emergency vision testing

Some people find themselves dealing with a sudden reduction in the quality of their vision that might result from a corneal or retinal problem. Such defects can lead to blindness if left untreated.

For example, a person with a detached retina might notice spots or flashing lights in their vision. An optometrist can perform appropriate tests that pinpoint the cause of the patient’s reduced vision before it causes permanent damage.