Eye Injuries

On this page

Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Symptoms
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors
• Treatments and Therapies

Learn More

• Specifics

See, Play and Learn

• Images
• Videos and Tutorials

Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Teenagers
• Patient Handouts

Summary

The structure of your face helps protect your eyes from injury. Still, injuries can damage your eye, sometimes severely enough that you could lose your vision. Most eye injuries are preventable. If you play sports or work in certain jobs, you may need protection.

The most common type of injury happens when something irritates the outer surface of your eye. Certain jobs such as industrial jobs or hobbies such as carpentry make this type of injury more likely. It's also more likely if you wear contact lenses.

Chemicals or heat can burn your eyes. With chemicals, the pain may cause you to close your eyes. This traps the irritant next to the eye and may cause more damage. You should wash out your eye right away while you wait for medical help.

Start Here

• Ocular Injury (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)
• Recognizing and Treating Eye Injuries (American Academy of Ophthalmology)

Symptoms

• Eye Symptoms (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• Dilating Eye Drops (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Eye Injury Prevention (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
• Safety Glasses and Protective Eyewear (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Black Eye: First Aid (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Chemical Splash in the Eye: First Aid (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Enucleation (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)
• Object in Eye or Skin, First Aid (VisualDX)

Specifics

• Black Eye (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
• Blowout Fracture (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)
• Corneal Abrasions (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)
• Corneal Laceration (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
• Eye Safety at Home: Preventing Eye Injuries (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
• Macular Pucker (National Eye Institute)
• Prevent Workplace Eye Injuries (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
• What Is Hyphema? (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish

Images

• Corneal Abrasion (VisualDX)
• Corneal Foreign Body (VisualDX)

Videos and Tutorials

• Blinking (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Corneal injury (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

• Eye Health Data and Statistics (National Eye Institute)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Eye Injuries (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Tear matrix metalloproteinase-9 levels may help to follow a ocular surface...
• Article: Perioperative Nursing of Vitrectomy for Ocular Trauma under the Guidance of...
• Article: Analysis of dose to the macula, optic disc, and lens in...
• Eye Injuries -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• How the Eyes Work (National Eye Institute)
• NEI for Kids: Glossary (National Eye Institute)

Find an Expert

• American Optometric Association
• National Eye Institute

Children

• About the Eye (National Eye Institute)
• Black Eyes (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
• Corneal Abrasions (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Preventing Eye Injuries (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
• Sports and Eye Safety: Tips for Parents and Teachers (National Eye Institute)

Teenagers

• Never Buy Decorative Contact Lenses without a Prescription (American Academy of Ophthalmology)

Patient Handouts

• Corneal injury (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Eye - foreign object in (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Eye emergencies (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Hyphema (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish