Unexpected eye injuries can occur any time with blunt as well as sharp objects.

Blunt injuries can occur with a rubber ball, plastic ball, tennis ball or with a hand or any other object. Direct hit on the eye can cause hematoma of the lids (black eyes), sub conjunctival hemorrhage depending on the force of injury. Rarely if the injury is very forceful blood can get collected in the anterior chamber of the eye (hyphaema) or a vitreous hemorrhage can occur. Occasionally, an injury may result in retinal detachment.

Sharp injuries can happen with objects like pencil, pen, knife, long fingernails, bow and arrow or any other similar object. Injuries may be superficial or deep. In superficial injuries, there may be corneal aberrations, which can be treated by antibiotic drops instillation and patching of the eye. Deep injuries can prove serious as it may lead to perforation of the eyeball. In such cases, hospitalization is a must and surgery may be performed depending on which structure is affected. If the eyelids are cut through, it will need alignment of the lids with repair of ocular tissues. Other structures of the eye like sclera, cornea, lens etc. may also be affected, which have to be treated by surgery and IOL implantation.

Rarely one may face an intraocular foreign body. An air gun pellet or a wooden stick or a steel particle may enter the eye, which will need localization and removal. Localization may require X- Ray and sonography.

Last created on 22-10-2001
Last updated on 01-07-2006