Red Eyes and eye emergencies in Katy

What are the type of eye problems and emergencies that people get? Who should I see? Will it cause permanent vision loss? These are questions we'll answer!

What is an Eye Emergency?

A true eye emergency is when a severe vision loss occurs or if there is an eye injury. Other situations are considered "urgent" and should still be seen as soon as possible. For that reason, most eye complications are considered emergencies.

When in doubt, anything should be treated as an eye emergency due to the potential for sight affecting complications.

Most frequently seen Eye Emergencies

Foreign Objects in the Eye

Sand, dirt, eyelashes, contact lenses, leaves, metal, small debris
Rinse eye thoroughly, avoid rubbing the eye, apply lubricant
When to seek help: when irritation worsens, redness develops, or vision becomes affected. Go to an optometrist or opthalmologist as they need to use a slit lamp to find any objects embebed in the lid or eye surface to remove and treat.

Scratched Eye

When the front surface, the cornea, gets scratched pain, redness, tearing, blurriness, and light sensitivity can develop.
When to seek medical care: immediately, risk for infection is high and prescribed drops are needed. An optometrist and opthalmologist are best to go to due to their instruments and expertise in evaluating visual prognosis due to the clear nature of the cornea.

Chemical burns

Cleaning products especially those that are acid or base based. This can cause corneal melt
Beauty products or facial cleansers may cause irritation
Immediate flush the eye with water for 15 minutes, go to ER or an opthalmologist

Trauma to the Eye

Blunt Injuries from falls or hits
Sharp Injuries from objects hitting the eye
The surrounding eye area including the eyelids and skin around the eye can bruise, swell and bleed. If the eye socket is impacted you may hear a creaking noise and that eye may be to some extent restricted in its ability to move
Injuries entering the eye can be from pencils, sharpnel, etc these are emergencies and patients should go straight to the ER. Besides infection risk and blood, if the eye cavity loses its pressure and collapse on itself then that will affect the internal structures of the eye and be debilitating

Sudden vision loss or blurriness

This can occur without pain!
Retinal detachment--when the inner retina light absorbing layer peels off and breaks
Stroke--sudden vision loss or bluriness due to lack of blood flow to the occiptal lobe or to a part of the brain where the optic chord traverses though
Optic nerve ischemia--sudden vision loss or sectorial loss due to lack of blood flow to the eye's optic nerve
These are all emergencies for the eye and also for the body, no time should be wasted, go to ER immediately.

Eye Infections (Pink Eye & Beyond)

Bacterial infections and viral infections of the eye surface
Styes: infections of the lid's eye glands
Cellulitis: infection of the eyelid and more diffuse, at high risk of spreading to surrounding tissues
Wash anything that maybe contaminated, go to the optometrist or ophthalmologist for treatment. Surface level infections are generally treated with eye drops, eye styes and lid infections are typically treated with oral medicine.

Things to have in your First Aid Kit for the Eye

Saline solution and artificial tears are simple things that are very versatile to have to help wash the eye and to also lubricate the eye in cases of irritation. An over the counter allergy eye drop would also be helpful to keep. Saline solutions are helpful to use to wash the eye out and not to be used as a lubricant.

Conclusion

• Recap the importance of quick response in eye emergencies.

• Encourage families to stay prepared with basic first aid knowledge.

• Call to action: “Protect your family’s vision—schedule a routine eye exam today!”

Preventing Eye Injuries and Infections

Safe storage of items that are sharp objects, chemical products to minimize risk of injury. Use of eye wear and safety glasses when performing tasks that has a risk of infection or debris spread.

When to See an Eye Doctor

If you have any of the listed eye emergency conditions above then go see an eye doctor or ER immediately.

Less severe conditions are considered urgent and those should still be scheduled as soon as possible.

General irritation or discharge outside of a known source may not be infectious and may be monitored for worsening or new side effects.

Find an eye doctor near you, if you are unable to find an eye doctor then an urgent care or the ER would be the next visits.

For true eye emergencies, go to the ER, they have opthalmologists that can see patients there.

Conclusion

An eye emergency is serious and when in doubt, go see a doctor. While emergencies differ in their severity and prognosis, it is hard to establish that without an expert analysis. Time is of the essence with these conditions as well. It's better to be overly cautious due to the very real eye complications and in some cases body and brain complications that can happen. If you are looking for a doctor that will see these conditions to treat and refer when necessary, call the office of Dr. Matthew Pham in Katy.

About the Author:

Dr. Matthew Pham is a licensed therapeutic optometrist, through his training he has the licensing to write antibiotic and steroid eye drops and orals for the treatment of eye diseases.