corneal abrasion?

On or, around 20th January a baby, forcefully pierced her index finger into my right eye. It was terribly painful. I thought my eye ball might have been punctured. It was became very red but, was not bleeding. The injury was between the eyelid and the eyeball angeling towards the ear. That night I couldn't sleep properly. Next morning the eye apparently became normal, but it was so tearing that hardly I could open the eye.It was difficult to tolerate any light and was paining. I visited one doctor, he gave me one general eye lotion and told that the eye is not red any more. So, nothing to afraid of and the tear is because of the shock. After a couple of days things will be alright.

And within two days things became normal. But, sometimes when rising from bed in the morning,  I use to feel that the trauma is coming back. Something is tearing off from the eyeball or, the inner layer of the eyelid. It pains for that moment and thereafter tear comes out for sometime. Sometimes the phenomena is bit light and easy to bear. But, a regular interval, say one month or,1and1/2 months the pain becomes unbearable. It will again very painful for 2 or, 3 days and tears along with that. That time if I open and close my eyes, it feels something rubbing in that injured part. So, better to close the eyes. If I close the right (injured) eye and try to open the left eye, that rubbing feel and pain persists.

So, it happened on 20th March for the first time and once again and I had to visit doctor. This time a renowned one. At first he could not find anything as, eyes were not red. Only it was difficult to open the eyes and the eye was tearing too much. Then he gave some stain in the eye and found some injury. He was very surprised as he heard the history is too old. He told me it is corneal abrasion and after giving some antibiotic eye ointment he padded that eye. Days after I opened the pad and the eye was OK.

But, again on 08th May problem relapsed. And I was sitting in front of an FRCS eye specialist by that evening. He gone through the history and came to the conclusion that, the upper layer of the eyeball was teared off from the ball and is not getting the fixing time. So, he gave me one ointment (liquid and white soft paraffin composition) to use every night before going to bed and for one month without fail. He had reviewed it on 04.06.09 He was bit satisfied and told to continue it up to 25th May. If problem persists it may require to tear off the layer and allow a new layer to grow, he told. But, yesterday (05.06.09) the thing relapsed and day long I was in bed closing my eyes.

You please help me suggesting what should I do at this juncture? What actually the problem is?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

You have recurrent erosion  syndrome.  You need to use an ointment and saline drops for about three months.

You have to gently rub your eyelid in the morning to relieve the area with the problem from the eyelid. This decrase the chance of the superficial layer of the cornea from being torn off.

If this fails you will need a scraping of your cornea or laser removal of the superficial layer of the cornea to allow healing in this area.

Dr. O.  

[barari]

Thanks doctor for your valuable advice.

You have suggested two things. One is to rub the eyelid in the morning. Now, the question is, I have to do this with my fingers after waking up or, before opening the eyes?

My doctors also suggested me for scraping of the cornea, as  a permanent solution. My question is how long it will take to heal the area and is it painful?

My last doctor suggested another option, to use a large contact lens for about 15 days. Is it safe for 15 days, as cornea directly inhale oxygen from the air?

Regards,
Barari