Ouch!!! Scratched Cornea

[ronandannette]

I just got home from the urgent care centre where I was diagnosed with a scratched cornea. They removed the object that was in my eye, gave me some antibiotic drops and assured me it will heal completely on its own in two or three days. The thing is, it hurts like the dickens!! They put some anesthetic in it while they were rummaging around in there and it felt FANTASTIC - I thought I was cured. Now that the freezing has worn off, it hurts more than it did when I got there. Anybody have any home remedies for something like this? I've already taken a huge dose of Advil.

 

[Buzz Rules]

I just got home from the urgent care centre where I was diagnosed with a scratched cornea. They removed the object that was in my eye, gave me some antibiotic drops and assured me it will heal completely on its own in two or three days. The thing is, it hurts like the dickens!! They put some anesthetic in it while they were rummaging around in there and it felt FANTASTIC - I thought I was cured. Now that the freezing has worn off, it hurts more than it did when I got there. Anybody have any home remedies for something like this? I've already taken a huge dose of Advil.

I’m not a medical professional or eye doctor but these links may help:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/first-aid/first-aid-corneal-abrasion/basics/art-20056659

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/first-aid-eye-scratches

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Ouch! I’m sorry Annette, that sounds awful! I have a bit of experience with scratched corneas from my time working in medicine and I think the fact that it was veterinary medicine is neither here nor there. An eye is an eye. My advice is to get an e-collar to prevent yourself from pawing at it and making it worse. You’ll have to be extra careful walking through doors, though!



Wishing you a speedy recovery!

 

[Jangles]

So sorry to hear that you are in pain. Have you tried anti inflammatory meds, like ordinary hay fever tablets?

 

[Kitty 34]

Wishing you a quick recovery. Those definitely are not fun!

 

[slo]

I just got home from the urgent care centre where I was diagnosed with a scratched cornea. They removed the object that was in my eye, gave me some antibiotic drops and assured me it will heal completely on its own in two or three days. The thing is, it hurts like the dickens!! They put some anesthetic in it while they were rummaging around in there and it felt FANTASTIC - I thought I was cured. Now that the freezing has worn off, it hurts more than it did when I got there. Anybody have any home remedies for something like this? I've already taken a huge dose of Advil.

Oh no….I’m so sorry to hear this.
Sending lots of PD to feel better soon

 

[Disney Ella]

I'm sorry to hear about your eye. Unfortunately, I have no advice, just sympathy. That was one of the most painful minor injuries I ever had.

 

[amylevan]

Been there, done that, hope to never be back!

I sat in a dark room with my eyes closed. It felt much better after about 36 hours, and by day 3 I didn’t feel anything anymore.

 

[mom2rtk]

That sounds awful. I would max out the Advil around the clock for at least a couple days. It takes the higher doses to actually give the anti-inflammatory effect. But I would also dose the full dose of Tylenol in between. It's safe, and both medications work on pain in different ways, so it's a great 1-2 punch. I would line it up so you're hitting it with Tylenol half way between Advil doses.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I hope you feel better soon @ronandannette ! The prior post about taking Tylenol and Motrin is good advice. Can your doctor’s office prescribe you something if that doesn’t work?

 

[fly girl]

OUCH! I have scratched my cornea before, it is miserable. The best thing I found is to keep that eye closed, wearing an eye patch.

Wishing you a very speedy recovery!

 

[antmaril]

Sorry about your eye. Sounds very painful.

 

[Jml813]

In addition to the over the counter painkiller. I would also use a warm washcloth. It feels fantastic. Take a washcloth, get it wet, 5 or so seconds in the microwave. Put it over the sore eye.

 

[DL1WDW2]

Wear an eyepatch to help keep your eye closed and would probably drink lots of water.

 

[barb969]

I agree with a patch. When my DD was 5 she got a paper cut in her eye. Of course it was 5pm on a Friday, so no chance of seeing a doctor. She was screaming in pain. I called the ophatamologist and he said put patch on it. I thought this was ridiculous, but I had nothing to lose. As soon as the patch was on she stopped screaming and went to sleep around 6 and it was fine the next morning.
Hope it’s better today.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I’ve posted about my corneal abrasion before. It was awful. A sliver of wood flew up under my top eyelid in a lumberyard from a sudden gust of wind. Made the mistake of going to a nearby two-bit clinic who misdiagnosed it, put a dressing over my eye and told me to keep pressure on it. I couldn’t see because just opening my other eye caused the affected eye to move and it was torture. Finally went to Mass Eye and Ear ER where they put those drops in and ahh, what relief! They turned my eyelid inside out under a microscope and found the wood. Had major scratches all over my cornea. Was discharged and about halfway home, the drops wore off, and I swore they missed a piece of the wood, so we went back. Woke the doctor up. He explained there was nothing else there (but looked again) and said it was just going to be very painful. Gave me some Percocet. So I just had to deal with the pain until it healed a bit. I took the one or two doses of Percocet he gave me, then had to make due with motrin and Tylenol.

Wear an eyepatch to help keep your eye closed and would probably drink lots of water.

The problem is, even if your eye is closed, you can’t use one eye without the other moving, even if covered up. Try it. Hold your hand over one eye and look around with the other eye. You’ll see that the covered eye still moves. And when it moves, it’s super painful!

Honestly, Annette, one of the best things you can do is simply chill out in a dark room and rest, keeping your eyes closed as much as you can. I agree the warm compresses might help and soothe a bit. Keep up with the analgesics. I hope you feel better soon! (But it might take a few days!)

 

[ronandannette]

I hope you feel better soon @ronandannette ! The prior post about taking Tylenol and Motrin is good advice. Can your doctor’s office prescribe you something if that doesn’t work?

Well, there's not a snowball's chance of getting in to see my GP before this injury is a distant memory. I was seen yesterday at an urgent care centre, which here in our system is a wonderful step-up from a walk-in clinic that prevents a ton of strain on our hospital emergency rooms. The doctor was kind and seemed thorough; I'm happy enough with his diagnosis and treatment. He didn't even address pain control though. And it would be extremely uncommon here to be prescribed opiates by anyone except a pain specialist, only for the most extreme cases.

There's a huge effort nation-wide to curb their misuse; with the introduction of fentanyl a few years ago it's a national tragedy. Ironically, the monthly provincial overdose death rates were being discussed on the news as I was coming home last night. That, and having just finished watching Dopesick on Hulu (about the development and marketing of oxycontin) would be enough to scare anybody off of prescription pain meds. It does occur to me though that Tylenol with codeine is available here OTC so that's an option, if it comes to it.

I know all this is waaaay off-topic of your comment but it's really been on my mind lately. There's just so much trouble of so many kinds in the world and my heart is heavy.

I’ve posted about my corneal abrasion before. It was awful. A sliver of wood flew up under my top eyelid in a lumberyard from a sudden gust of wind. Made the mistake of going to a nearby two-bit clinic who misdiagnosed it, put a dressing over my eye and told me to keep pressure on it. I couldn’t see because just opening my other eye caused the affected eye to move and it was torture. Finally went to Mass Eye and Ear ER where they put those drops in and ahh, what relief! They turned my eyelid inside out under a microscope and found the wood. Had major scratches all over my cornea. Was discharged and about halfway home, the drops wore off, and I swore they missed a piece of the wood, so we went back. Woke the doctor up. He explained there was nothing else there (but looked again) and said it was just going to be very painful. Gave me some Percocet. So I just had to deal with the pain until it healed a bit. I took the one or two doses of Percocet he gave me, then had to make due with motrin and Tylenol.


The problem is, even if your eye is closed, you can’t use one eye without the other moving, even if covered up. Try it. Hold your hand over one eye and look around with the other eye. You’ll see that the covered eye still moves. And when it moves, it’s super painful!

Honestly, Annette, one of the best things you can do is simply chill out in a dark room and rest, keeping your eyes closed as much as you can. I agree the warm compresses might help and soothe a bit. Keep up with the analgesics. I hope you feel better soon! (But it might take a few days!)

Ah yes...the blessed, blessed anesthetic drops! I asked to have some prescribed and the doc said "no way". He said overuse actually hinders healing, but I'm not sure why. He also warned me that it's characteristic of a corneal scratch to feel so bad that you're sure there's still something stuck in there, even though there isn't. And yes, sleeping was a problem last night because every time I'd drift off and start to dream (REM) the pain would wake me up. Oh well, I'm now 1.5 days into a 3 day healing cycle and it is a bit better. Hoping for big improvement today as I've got an event tomorrow and would like to be able to put on make-up and look presentable, and not have to wear sunglasses indoors. I'm just not cool enough to carry that off.

 

[Kittyblue]

I saw an eye doctor when it happened to me. He put on a clear contact lens, and had me check in with him every couple days to remove it and check the healing. I think I wore it for about 4 days total.

 

[Micca]

Ouchie! No advice, but sure hope the discomfort goes away ASAP I think you can pull of this look while wearing shades indoors

 

[ronandannette]

Ouchie! No advice, but sure hope the discomfort goes away ASAP I think you can pull of this look while wearing shades indoors

Maybe if I pair them with @TipsyTraveler 's e-collar.