Eye Abrasion

Two days ago I began to feel like I had something in my eye.  The pain got progressivaly worse.  It felt like piece of glass rubbing in my eye when I blinked or moved my eye.  My eye became very red and irratted.  I went to my GP the same day ago was found to have a large scratch on the white of my eye.  I have been taking Voltaren Ophthalmic for the pain and another eye drop to prevent infection.  The pain and reddness of the eye has decreased significantly.  However, today my vision is blurry in that eye.  When I look at something bright or white letters on a black background I see almost half of a double image underneath the image (ghosting).  It is only happens with the scratched eye.  Could it be a side effect of the Voltren?      

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

It could be voltaren or the scratch. You need to see an Eye MD for a biomicroscope examination. Find one at www.aao.org

JCH III MD

[shawn244]

Thanks for your response.  I saw the Eye Doctor.  I have deep divit in the  cornea.  The Doctor put in a contact patch and gave me vigamox to use every hour.  I woke up this morning and my vision is even worse.  I called the eye doctor and will be seen this afternoon. I have had the abrasion for 4 days now.  How long does it take to heal?  Do you have any other guidence?

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Clarify what you are to do about Voltarin. Normally I would stop it. The abrasion may take up to a week before the contact can be removed and will take a couple of months to be as strong as normal. You need to be followed carefully to be sure you don't develop recurrent erosion syndrome.

JCH III MD

[shawn244]

Thanks again for taking time to answer my questons.  I stopped taking the Voltarin after my first visit to the Eye Doctor when the Vigamox was prescribed.  I saw the Eye doctor about an hour ago.  The contact patch was removed and the abraision is about 85% healed they said.  I was told to take use the vigamox every two hours and to use a Systane lubricating drops on the hour in between using the Vigamox.  However, my vision still is not very good I have some serious ghosting in that eye.  They were thinking it could be a few more days before my vision starts to return.  Is it common not to have vision return to normal until after the abrasion has healed?  Why was my vision not affected the first day and a half I had the abrasion?  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

It probably took 36 hours for the swelling to develop from the injury, just like if you twist your ankle it is often much more swollen 24 hours later (why we put ice on such an injury).

Each day you should see better and there should be no pain or increased redness. If you have a set back you should return for re-exam.

Avoid rubbing your eyes in the morning when you wake up. Anything that dries your eye is bad for the healing. Don't run your heater in your car in your face. Run it down on the floor. If you take a long car or plane trip over the Christmas holiday use artifical tears hourly.

I have my CAB (corneal abrasion) patients use either a gel such as Genteal Gel or an ointment such as Refresh PM at bedtime for a couple of weeks since that's when problems often occur as the lid sticks to the healing tissue and pulls it off.

JCH III MD

[Mel56031]

I have a cut on my inner right eyelid  from rubbing. It is red and swolllen the eye itself seems fine but my lid is sore what should I do besides not rub it anymore????

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

You can try warm compresses and perhaps an over the counter lubricating ointment such as duolube, duratears, refresh-PM, systane PM

JCH MD