Treating Eye Injuries & Diagnosing Your Concerns

Your eyes are hardworking but delicate organs, and when something goes wrong with your eyes or your vision, it’s important to see an eye doctor right away.

If you’ve sustained an eye injury or notice new symptoms like eye pain, vision loss, or spots, please reach out as soon as possible so we can help.

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Signs of an Eye Emergency

Any new concerning visual symptom or injury to the eye and its surrounding area could be an emergency. Please don’t hesitate to /location/book-appointment/call us if you’re not sure whether your experience is an emergency or not. And use your best judgment about whether you need to head directly to an emergency room.

We especially encourage you to see your optometrist if you experience any of the following:

Loss of vision or change in vision
Anything sharp in your eye
Inability to flush irritating particles from your eye
Lots of floating spots or flashes of light in your vision
A cut, bruising, swelling, or broken bone surrounding the eye
Severe headaches

Types of Eye Injuries

Corneal Abrasion (Scratch on the Eye)

It’s not uncommon to get a bit of dust or dirt in your eyes, but certain kinds of debris, like sawdust or pine needles, can cause especially painful scratches on the surface of your eye. An errant poke with a finger or even a contact lens can also cause a corneal abrasion. Often, these scratches are superficial and can heal on their own in a couple of days.

But sometimes, you need to seek treatment to ensure the scratch isn’t infected and won’t become a more serious problem, like a corneal ulcer. If you get debris in your eye and thorough flushing doesn’t seem to help, please reach out to us for medical assistance.

Retinal Detachment

Though retinal detachment is painless, it’s an emergency situation that can cause permanent vision loss if not treated immediately. The earliest sign of retinal detachment is typically a sudden increase of floaters (small dark spots or squiggles) or flashes of light. You may also experience blurry vision or a curtain appearing to fall over your field of view.

Blow to the Eye or Black Eye

A minor hit to the eye area can be treated at home with a cold compress and rest. But it may also be more severe, involving broken bones and requiring medical intervention. Signs you should seek immediate medical attention after a blow to the face include:

“Raccoon eyes” (bruising around both eyes)
Blood in any part of one or both eyes
Vision problems, like blurry or double vision
Severe pain
Bleeding nose

Preventing Eye Injuries

According to the Canadian Association of Optometrists, about 90% of eye injuries are preventable by simply wearing proper eye protection. Safeguard your eyes by wearing goggles or other appropriate protection when you’re doing housework, using tools, or working with chemicals.

You can keep your kids’ eyes safe by ensuring they’re playing with age-appropriate toys and wearing sports glasses to protect against airborne sports equipment or other kids’ fingers and elbows.