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EYE EMERGENCIES
For Children & Adults
Emergency Eye Care Services in Colorado Springs
Do you or your child have red irritated sore eyes with a bit of swelling and or burning with a sticky discharge? It may be pink eye.
Need Urgent Care in Emergency Eyecare in Colorado Springs ?
We are always willing to help at Pikes Peak Eye Care, should you ever experience any eye emergency. Using our state of the art equipment, our offices provide emergency services for eye injuries, eye infections and other eye emergencies. In addition to the services we already offer you, such as routine eye exams, contact lenses, designer frames and eyeglasses – Our optometrist is available to help with issues such as:
- Sore, uncomfortable, red, or itchy eyes
- Removal of foreign materials from the eye (such as metal or wood)
- Treatment of "pink eye" and other bacterial infections
- Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes
- Lost or broken contact lenses or eyeglasses
- Eye trauma
- Scratched eyes
- Treatment of eye allergies or burns
- “Floaters” in the vision
- Dislodged contact lenses
- Emergency eye care
Do You Have An Eye Emergency?
Our Optometrists and their friendly eye care staff are conveniently located in Colorado Springs and always willing to help.
Providing the highest standard of eye care for eye emergencies, over the years they have grown to become the first choice for eye emergency eye care for both residents of Colorado Springs as well as visitors exploring our exciting city.
An eye emergency can be scary, many patients don't know if they should visit an Optometrist or go to an emergency room or urgent care facility. We encourage anyone who has concerns with their eyes to give us a call and our friendly and knowledgeable staff will provide the best advise for your emergency.
Common Activities that Cause Eye Emergencies
A research was conducted by the US National Library of Medicine, studied 3150 patients with eye conditions in 2007.
According to the findings, work-related injuries were the most common causes of eye emergencies. These are traumatic emergencies caused by activities such metal filings blunt trauma, fireworks and sharp objects and approximately 96% of the patient percentage had globe injury.
Patients in the study who were referred due to non-traumatic reasons such as eye infections were slightly less in number. The approximate ratio of the finding is 60:40.
Unprotected eyes during high-risk activities such as sports and certain jobs are risk factors that cause eye injuries. For patients referred for non-traumatic reasons, a considerable proportion was due to eye infection, most likely connected to age, poor management of one’s health and the increasing use of contact lenses.
Is Something Stuck In Your Eye?
A foreign body in the eye can be very uncomfortable. It could be an eyelash, metal, sawdust, sand or dirt and can cause irritation or pain. Sometimes, foreign bodies can be removed easily without needing to see an eye doctor. Other times, it can cause a serious injury if not attended quickly. What foreign objects do in the eyes is to set off an inflammatory cascade, resulting in the dilating of the surrounding vessels and subsequent edema of the lids, conjunctiva, and cornea, thereby causing an infection. If you have an object stuck in your eyes and you’re unable to remove it, call us immediately.
Methods of Removing a Foreign Body
Doctors remove foreign bodies from the eye by first putting anesthetic eye drops in your eye in order to numb it from any pain. Foreign bodies that are easy to reach can be removed by simply rinsing the eye with water and/or wiping it away with a bud or cotton wool. Harder cases would require the eye doctor to use a tip of a small metal instrument to lift the eyelids and remove the foreign body.
When the foreign body is stuck underneath your upper eyelid and you feel it there, or if you have abrasions on the top half of your cornea, the doctor would gently turn your eyelid inside out to remove the foreign body. Your eye may feel a bit uncomfortable after anesthetic eye drops have worn off until the eye heals.
Do You Have Pink Eye?
Pink Eye is very contagious and is normally gotten due to an eye infection. Seek medical care from your eye doctor immediately you notice symptoms. Antibiotics will be used to treat bacterial pink eye. The healing process begins twenty four hours after taking the first dose of medication.
Pink eye is a very common eye disease, and can sometimes pose a long term danger. Pink eye has a highly infectious nature and has recently been a concern. Pink eye has been associated with certain eye issues such as viral infection, dry eyes disease, chemicals reaction eye allergies, etc.
Bacterial and Viral conjunctivitis is known to both have similar symptoms and lifespan of between 1-3 weeks. While bacterial pink eye is treated with antibiotics, viral pink eye is not. Patients are required to stay at home until the symptoms clear up before returning to work or school.
There is a long list of other reasons why your eye can turn red. It is recommended that you visit an eye doctor, if you have any cause for concern.
Do You Have A Scratched Eye?
Corneal abrasions or scratched eye is the most common form of eye injuries. Scratched eyes occur when you rub your eyes excessively after you feel something stuck in your eyes. A small scratch in the eye can lead to an infection or a fungus outbreak. It is therefore important to see your optometrist as soon as possible.
Sore, Red, or Itchy Eyes
Sore or itchy eyes are often symptoms of an eye allergy. Though you may feel uncomfortable, they may not pose any major danger to the wellbeing of your eyes. But as relieved as you may feel knowing this, the symptoms still are so unpleasant that it can make your vacation unbearable. Our Optometrists are expert at treating eye allergies.
But besides eye allergies, there are other common reasons why you may have these symptoms. Have you been wearing your contact lenses for too long? If you are having additional symptoms of burning or red eyelids, it could mean you have MGD, dry eyes disease or Blepharitis. Call our practice immediately or visit any of our Eye care centers for more information.
Eye Bleeding (Popped blood vessel)
Subconjunctival hemorrhage is what this is also called. Also referred to as eye bleeding or popped blood vessel in the white of the eyes, this is one of the most common eye injuries occurring from a number of causes, including light impact to the eye. While it could be an emergency situation in most cases, it may also be an added symptom to a condition, or will just heal by itself.
Swollen or Black Eye
Do you have swollen eyes? Most times, it is worse than it seems. You may get a black eye from sports or some other impact to the eye surrounding. While you should not be scared, we recommend you visit your eye doctor to ensure there was no damage or any internal swelling to your eye.
Chemical Burn
Chemical burns in the eyes require immediate medical care. If you have a chemical burn, remember to tilt your head and continuously flush your eyes with water as you drive to the medical facility or wait for an ambulance. Remove any contact lens you may have on your eyes. Most chemical burns will not leave long term harm if treated promptly, however it is important that you take a chemical burn seriously as some chemicals (such as alkaline based cleaners) can permanently damage your eyesight.
Contact Lens Stuck In the Eye
When you have contacts stuck in your eyes, you can try getting it out the following ways:
- For soft contacts, first wash your hands thoroughly, and then try to determine the contact’s location. Sometimes it dries out when you sleep wearing it. Rinse the stuck contact with sterile saline or contact rewetting drops. Close your eyes and massage your upper lid gently until you can feel the lens move, then open your eyes and get it out normally. If the contact is stuck anywhere but the center of the eyes, close your eyes and look in the opposite direction of where it is located before massaging to remove it.
- Some contacts are gas permeable (GP contact lens). You don’t massage your eye lid in this one to prevent the rigid GP from abrasing the eyes. You use the pad of your finger tip to press the outer edge of the lens to break the suction that glues the contact to the eye, or you use a small contact suction cup to press on the concave of the lens until it adheres to the cup, then take it out.
- Sometimes none of these techniques work. Call your eye doctor immediately to arrange for its removal.
Floaters and Flashes
Floaters are small clouds or specks moving in your field of vision. You see them more clearly when you look at a plain background, such as a white surface or a blank wall. Floaters are tiny clumps of gel or cells inside the vitreous, the clear jelly-like fluid that fills the inside of your eye. Floaters come in different shapes, such as circles, little dots, clouds, or cobwebs.
Flashes happens when the vitreous gel inside your pulls or rubs on the retina. This produces what looks like flashing lights or lightening streaks. This is the sensation you experience when you get hit in the eye and see "stars."
If you have floaters and flashes, you should see your ophthalmologist for evaluation and possible treatment.
Styes
Stye (medically called hordeolum or hordeola (plural)) is a very common type of eyelid infection. They usually develop quite quickly, over a few days. Styes usually affect one eye only, although you can also develop more than one stye at a time. There are two types of stye: Internal stye (uncommon type) and external styes (the common type).
No treatment is often necessary for styles. Once the style has formed a 'head', burst within 3-4 days, and you’ll see the tiny amount of pus draining away and leaving no further problem. Also to help to ease soreness and manually draw the pus to a head, hold a clean flannel, which has been dipped in hot water and squeezed it dry, then gently but firmly place it against the closed eye for 5-10 minutes, 3-4 times a day.
Deep Cuts in the Eye (Cornea Lacerations)
The cornea is the front window of the eye. A corneal laceration is a cut on the cornea. It usually happens when something sharp flies into the eye or when something like metallic or hand tool strikes the eye with force. A corneal laceration is deeper than a corneal abrasion, and cuts partially or fully through the cornea. A deeper corneal cut can cause a full thickness laceration, rupturing the globe and tearing the eyeball itself.
A cut in the eye is a very serious injury that requires immediate medical attention to avoid vision loss.
Here are some steps to take if your eyes have been injured:
- Place a shield gently over the eye to protect it. Tape the bottom part of a paper cup to the area around the eye to protect your eye until you get medical help.
- do not rinse with water
- do not remove the object stuck in your eye
- do not rub or apply any pressure to eye
- Do not take ibuprofen, aspirin or other non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs. These drugs may thin the blood and increase bleeding.
Once you’re done protecting the eye, rush to the emergency room and see a physician immediately.
Eye Trauma Q&A
- I just lost my vision in one eye, what should I do?
Call your eye doctor, if possible. There may be instructions that need to be carried out even before arriving at the office or emergency room (should that be required). - My eye is bleeding what should I do?
Call your eye doctor. Your actions will depend on the exact location of the bleeding. - What should I do if I spill chemicals in my eye?
If chemicals are spilled in the eye, it is best to thoroughly rinse the eye with water. Tap water is fine. The water can come from a shower, a kitchen sink sprayer or, if outside, a hose. You can pour water from a glass or bucket. The key is to use a lot of water and to do it immediately. You should do it up to 30 minutes, depending on how much chemical and what kind of chemical you get in your eyes. After rinsing, you should call your eye doctor. - Are you seeing Floaters? Spots?
Spots or floaters are usually not a cause for concern, but it is possible that they can be the result of a retinal tear or detachment, which should be treated immediately. Call your eye doctor for any sudden floaters, flashes, spots, cobwebs, shadows or curtains within your vision. Cover each eye to try to determine which eye it may be coming from. If the doctor wants to see you, you should expect to have one or both pupils dilated. - I am seeing double, should I go to the eye doctor?
Yes. New onset double vision may be the sign of a dangerous condition like a stroke. - I have severe pain in my eye, what do I do?
Sudden, short pains in the eye are not usually cause for concern. Frequent or lasting pain should be seen by your eye doctor. - What to do if I get sand, or metal in my eyes?
For one of the above materials in the eye, try to rinse it out with water as described in the previous section. If the eye is then comfortable, it is likely that you have been successful. If there is still a foreign body sensation, you should see an eye doctor. It is always best to see an eye doctor, either an optometrist or an ophthalmologist, rather than going to an urgent care center or an emergency room. If that is not possible, then an urgent care center or an emergency room will probably be better than not being seen at all. - Pressure Behind Your Eyes?
Schedule an appointment with your eye doctor. Often there is no real cause for alarm but it is possible.