Broken Blood Vessel

My boyfriend was struck in the eye with a phone cord on accident. He went to the doctor and was given Tylenol 3 and told the pain would subside in a few days. Well, it's now been 1 day short of a week and he's in so much pain he sits in the apartment with the lights off, he's not sleeping, he can't focus on anything because the light irritates him so much. The Tylenol has not done anything for his pain, and I was wondering if this is normal? Everywhere I read says that there should be little pain associated with a broken blood vessel and that if there is it could result in permanant vision loss so I'm scared. I would like to take him back to the DR but that isn't really do able to do over and over when he doesn't have insurance. We don't have money for yet another doctor bill. Any suggestions?

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Deaar Rrach24,

Try to find an eyeMD associated with a free medical clinic that will treat your boyfriend or an organization which helps.  Go to the AAO.org [American Academy of Ophthalmology] to see if he would qualify for the eye care project. They will be able to make some recommendations.  It sounds as if he has inflammation inside the eye and definitely needs to be treated.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California