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Eye Care Archive (Expert Forum)
Bad poke in eye with fingernail
Our Ask A Doctor Ophthalmology Forum is where you can post your question and receive a personal answer from physicians affiliated with the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Bad poke in eye with fingernail
by bri7405, Dec 07, 2005 12:00AM
I poked myself in the eye last night with my fingernail. The area around my eye is swollen. My eye is slightly pink. Everytime I blink it feels like someone is sticking a pin in my eyeball. Very uncomfortable!! My vision is a little blurred and sensative to sunlight. Any suggestions on how to make it feel better!? Should I see a doctor or give it a couple of days to heal. I believe the cut is just under my top eyelid. Any help would be GREAT!!! Hard to sleep with eye discomfort, its like I wake up every 10 minutes because I moved my eye, then it tears like crazy and hurts extremely when I try to open it or blink!! HELP!!!
Doctor's Answer
by Forum-OD-MP, Dec 07, 2005 12:00AM
you need to see an eye doctor. a general practitioner is not a good idea, they dont have the toos nor the experience to treat you. the E.R. is a bad idea b/c you might get treated corretcly and you might not. every eye doctor i know has seen this a thousand times.
if the scratch is in a certain place, they may put a "bandage contact lens" on you. they may even put a patch over your eye, although i'm not a big fan of that, its the "old school" technique. there are some places on your eye where if you had a scratch there, it is not really very easy to treat, so they may tell you they cant do anything and you'll have to wait it out.
the big risk with an eye abraision or scratch is infection. the human eye is WET and WARM all the time, so if you get an open wound you are at risk for bacterial keratitis, which is a big deal. so they will probably rx an antibiotic to prevent a secondary infection.
if you are a CONTACT LENS WEARER then almost none of that applies. any redness and pain with a contact lens wearer is treated totally differently. if you wear contacts then do not let anyone patch you with an eyepatch.
if the scratch is in a certain place, they may put a "bandage contact lens" on you. they may even put a patch over your eye, although i'm not a big fan of that, its the "old school" technique. there are some places on your eye where if you had a scratch there, it is not really very easy to treat, so they may tell you they cant do anything and you'll have to wait it out.
the big risk with an eye abraision or scratch is infection. the human eye is WET and WARM all the time, so if you get an open wound you are at risk for bacterial keratitis, which is a big deal. so they will probably rx an antibiotic to prevent a secondary infection.
if you are a CONTACT LENS WEARER then almost none of that applies. any redness and pain with a contact lens wearer is treated totally differently. if you wear contacts then do not let anyone patch you with an eyepatch.
