Corneal Abrasion
(Scratched Eye)
A scratch on the cornea is one of the most painful things that can happen to an eye, and one of the most treatable. Most corneal abrasions heal within days with the right care, but the wrong care, or none, can turn a simple scratch into an infection or a scar in your line of sight. Prompt treatment is available at our Upland office.
What Is a Corneal Abrasion?
The cornea is the clear front window of the eye. A corneal abrasion is a scrape or scratch on its surface layer. Common causes include a fingernail or a child's finger, a tree branch or plant, makeup brushes, paper edges, rubbing the eye when something is trapped under the lid, dust or debris blown into the eye, and contact lenses that are damaged, dirty, or worn too long.
The cornea has more nerve endings per square millimeter than almost anywhere else in the body, which is why even a tiny scratch can feel enormous.
Symptoms of a Scratched Cornea
- Sharp pain, especially with blinking
- The feeling that something is in the eye, even after flushing
- Tearing and redness
- Sensitivity to light
- Blurred vision in the affected eye
- Reflex squeezing of the eyelid shut
What to Do (and Not Do) Right Away
- Do: rinse the eye gently with clean water or saline, blink several times, and pull the upper lid over the lower lid to help sweep out loose debris.
- Do not rub the eye. Rubbing grinds any trapped particle deeper into the cornea.
- Do not wear your contact lens on a scratched eye. A lens over an abrasion is how sight-threatening infections start.
- Do not patch the eye yourself or use leftover eye drops from the medicine cabinet, especially steroid drops or numbing drops. Repeated numbing drops prevent the cornea from healing and can cause permanent damage.
- Never try to remove an object embedded in the eye. Cover the eye loosely and seek care immediately.
How We Treat Corneal Abrasions
At the office we numb the eye for the exam, use fluorescein dye and the slit-lamp microscope to map the scratch exactly, check under the lids for retained debris, and rule out deeper injury. Treatment usually includes antibiotic drops or ointment to prevent infection while the surface heals, with additional drops for comfort and, for larger abrasions, a bandage contact lens that acts like a clear dressing over the scratch. Most abrasions heal in 24 to 72 hours; larger ones take longer. We recheck the eye to confirm complete healing.
Recurrent Corneal Erosion
Occasionally a healed abrasion does not stick down properly, and the surface re-tears months later, classically on waking, when the lid pulls the loose patch open. This is called recurrent corneal erosion, and it is very treatable with lubricating ointment regimens, special saline drops, or a minor in-office procedure. If your eye keeps re-injuring itself at the site of an old scratch, mention it; do not simply live with it.
Related conditions we treat include red eye, pink eye, dry eye, and pterygium.
Urgent Eye Care from Eye MDs, Not Guesswork
Dr. Marc Shomer, MD, PhD and Dr. Robert Gunzenhauser, MD are board-certified ophthalmologists trained at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. An urgent-care clinic can prescribe drops, but only an ophthalmologist examines your cornea under a microscope, removes embedded foreign bodies safely, and recognizes when a scratch is actually an ulcer. We keep room in our Upland schedule for urgent eye problems. Both doctors and our entire staff speak Spanish (se habla espanol).
Scratched Your Eye? Call Us
Call 909-981-9800 or request an appointment online. Our office is at 1298 W 7th Street, Upland, CA 91786, with free parking behind the building.