First Aid Care for Eye Emergencies

An eye emergency is any problem that requires immediate medical attention. An eye emergency can result from chemicals or a foreign object entering your eye, or when an injury or burn affects your eye. It’s therefore very essential to quickly take care of eye emergencies before they permanently damage your eye. First aid can be performed at home following advice from your medical practitioner or emergency eye care. One should not at any given time try to treat themselves, because it may lead to severe complications.

What Qualifies An Eye Emergency?

If you don’t know which medical situations can be classified as eye emergencies, here are several listed instances:

• Loss of vision
• Stinging or burning
• Eye pain
• Decreased vision
• Bleeding from the eye
• Redness and irritation of the eye
• Discharge from the eye
• Eye allergies that make your eyes red and puffy

Some eye emergencies can be taken care of at home, while others such as bleeding, swelling, or pain in the eye require emergency eye care services.

How to Respond To Eye Emergencies At Home

• Chemical Injury On Your Eye

Industrial chemicals, garden chemicals, and cleaning products may enter your eye and cause burns or injury. Chemical burns may also be caused by fumes and aerosol sprays. If you have chemical burns, you are advised to do the following before visiting our emergency eye care in North York, Toronto, ON.

1. Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water to eliminate chemicals that may have remained on your hands.
2. Turn your head to make your eye face down and to the side.
3. Keep your eyelid open while continuously flushing water for 15 minutes.
4. If you have contact lenses, remove them after flushing
5. Contact our eye doctor in North York, Toronto, ON, and continue flushing water while waiting for an ambulance

• Presence Of Small Foreign Objects In Your Eye

Small objects such as sand or dust can be very harmful to your eye no matter how tine they are. It can lead to loss of vision or cause eye damage.  The following steps can be taken to remove the particles from your eye:

1. Do not rub your eye. Blink to see if the particle clears.
2. Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water before touching the eye.
3. Use a mirror to look into your or ask someone to help you locate the object.
4. Pull down your lower eyelid to enable you to look behind it, or place a cotton swab on your upper lid to look under it.
5. Use artificial tear eye drops to rinse out the object.
6. Flush the foreign object on your eye with cool water.
7. If the object fails to be removed, contact your doctor at Yorkdale Eyecare.

• Large Foreign Objects Inside Your Eye

Large objects such as glass or metal or objects that enter your eye at high speed can cause serious damage. Our opticians guide you to leave them there and immediately seek help. Try to move your eye as early as possible or cover both your eyes with a piece of clean cloth if you are accompanied by someone to the health center. If not quickly taken care of, it will cause trauma to the eye.

How to Prevent Eye Emergencies

Accidents are bound to happen and cannot be avoided, but the following can be done to decrease the risk of occurrence:

• Wear protective eyewear while participating in high-risk sports activities or when using power tools.
• Please read, understand, and follow the instructions provided in the chemical containers before using them.
• Keep sharp instruments such as scissors and knives out of children’s reach. And educate your children on how to use them if necessary.
• Keep hair appliances such as straightening tools and curling irons away from your eyes.
• Keep away from amateur fireworks.
• Be cautious when cooking with oil or grease.
• Wear protective eyewear when using a lawnmower to avoid grass from injuring your eye.
• Avoid sharing your makeup brushes.
• If you use contact lenses, regularly clean them and store them correctly.