corneal abrasion - blurred vision and eye still tender one week later

[Zootal]

I suffered a corneal abrasion one week ago. Got hit in face with small tree branch. Eye very painful, vision clouded. Went to urgent care. Diagnosed corneal abrasion and sent me home. Gave me Neo/poly/dex drops. Put one drop in eye 4 times a day for one week. Today is the seventh day, and the last day I am to use the drops.
Followed up with eye doctor (optometrist) on third day. She put dye in eye and used slit lamp microscope thing. She said abrasions were healing nicely, there is some clouding of cornea. This was mostly cleared up two days later at a second visit (five days after injury) and she said I didn't need to see her unless things got worse.

Today is day eight (it happened a week ago today). My vision is still slightly blurred and lights are slightly streaked (astigmatism?). I can read and use the computer just fine, the blurring is not enough to keep me from doing that, but still noticeable. I look at a point light source, and I can see a slight streaking effect. The eye has no visible symptoms - no redness, no swelling, no puffiness, etc. It is tender and drys out easily, and I tend to keep it closed part of the time.

Is this normal to still have some discomfort and drying after a week? How long do these symptoms normally last? Do vision changes like this eventually go away? And lastly, how long should I wait before going back to my eye doctor if I'm still having discomfort or vision changes don't go away? (Or should I have seen an ophthalmologist instead)?

[als488]

Wow, I didn't think I'd find an active thread that was so old.  Reading all these things is very comforting.

I went to urgent care yesterday and was looked at by a nurse practitioner.  I had a corneal abrasion diagnosed in my right eye (and had been suffering from the pain since the day before yesterday).  My eye stung and watered relentlessly when it was really bad, and I'd have spans of time where it didn't really bother me.  My vision was noted down as being 20/40 (with my glasses on) when I was diagnosed.  I was sent home with antibiotic eyedrops (Polymyxin B) to use every six hours for 10 days and told to take an NSAID for the pain.

I've been doing as told by the nurse practitioner.  Today I saw an ophthalmologist for a follow-up and she said the abrasion is all healed and I can discontinue the Polymyxin B drops.

I still feel a little discomfort in the eye, have light sensitivity (although not as bad as it was the past two days), and blurred vision in the affected eye (even with my glasses).  The abrasion must have happened right over my field of vision, which really *****.

Am I just left to wait and see if my vision improves?  It's really difficult to read things, and I need to for school and one of my jobs.

[DaveDKT]

Firstly, this thread has been a massive comfort to me throughout my eye episode, with yourself updating/answering peoples questions long after your incident happened. You really don't see that alot on threads so thank you zootal :)

I've just had around 4 weeks of zovirax eye ointment after a run in with ocular HSV...which was fun. Had a long bout of painful red (bloodshot) eye (only my right eye), blurry vision and light sensitivity. Now i've had the all clear from the ophthalmologist for the infection itself i am left with a fair few tiny scars over and area of the central portion of my cornea (line of sight unfortunately) and a bit of light sensitivity. My vision has improved a fair bit over the last week or so and after a couple more i'm ok to put contacts back in, i've also been given lubricating drops to keep my eye nice and moist so i guess now it's just a long process of waiting patiently to see if my scars fade. As it is i get a bit of "glare" around light sources and so colours have a little washed out quality about them (imagine you're looking through very very slightly frosted glass)....so hopefully they fade with time.

So i guess the point in this post was to thank zootal for being an all round good person answering questions long after the incident happened and to chip in my own personal situation to hopefully reassure anyone else with similar problems as mine that thing do get better.......you've just got to be patient.

[Zootal]

It's hard to say. My vision was blurry for weeks, but I saw and Ophthalmologist, and she immediately saw the problem and gave me steroid drops and said to give it a few weeks to heal. It took six weeks or more to heal and for my vision to return to normal. You can either wait a month or two, or go see another doctor. Make sure the doctor you see is an Ophthalmologist.

[jenleggitt]

Wow... idk what happened with the double sentences, Sorry!!!

[jenleggitt]

I got attacked by an aloe vera plant about 2 1/2 weeks ago, went and got on antibiotic drops. Then a week later my vision still blurry. Just went and saw a cornea specialist and he told me my eye is fine and there is nothing wrong. He told me to go and get glasses since my vision is bad and aI got attacked by an aloe vera plant about 2 1/2 weeks ago, went and got on antibiotic drops. Then a week later my vision still blurry. Just went and saw a cornea specialist and he told me my eye is fine and there is nothing wrong. He told me to go and get glasses since my vision is bad and also telling me I probably had this vision issue for a while and never noticed.  Sigh.... first of all I am super blurry in my eye and would of never gone this long without seeing someone for it. Especially since I cannot see to read or far away. He told me it had nothing to do with my cornea abrasion and it was just a coincidence it happened at the same time as it. I think they are full of it. How do you go from 20/20 vision, get an abrasion and then after it heals you have a haze covering your eye completely? I am really upset about this.... I am hoping after reading your statements that in a few weeks I will be ok. It gives me faith, but at the same time upsetting that I have no support from even my cornea specialist. :/ lso telling me I probably had this vision issue for a while and never noticed.  Sigh.... first of all I am super blurry in my eye and would of never gone this long without seeing someone for it. Especially since I cannot see to read or far away. He told me it had nothing to do with my cornea abrasion and it was just a coincidence it happened at the same time as it. I think they are full of it. How do you go from 20/20 vision, get an abrasion and then after it heals you have a haze covering your eye completely? I am really upset about this.... I am hoping after reading your statements that in a few weeks I will be ok. It gives me faith, but at the same time upsetting that I have no support from even my cornea specialist. :/

[Rajiv2297]

Hey,

I had an corneal abrasion about 11 days ago which is all healed up. I went the Ophthalmologist this morning and as I still have blurred vision in my right eye. He told me that the blurriness should go away as my left eye knows the other eye had been injured so has to work harder at focusing.

How long till normal vision is recovered?

Thanks