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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.
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
- Protective Eyewear (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
- Selecting PPE for the Workplace (Personal Protective Equipment for the Eyes and Face) (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
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
- Object in Eye or Skin, First Aid (Logical Images)
Specifics
- Black Eye (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
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Corneal Laceration
(American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
- Eye Injuries at Home (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
- Eye Injuries at Work (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
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Macular Pucker
(National Eye Institute)
- What Is Hyphema? (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
Images
- Corneal Abrasion (Logical Images)
- Corneal Foreign Body (Logical Images)
Videos and Tutorials
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Blinking
(Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
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Corneal injury
(Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
Clinical Trials
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ClinicalTrials.gov: Eye Injuries
(National Institutes of Health)
Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
Reference Desk
- Glossary of Terms (Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology)
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How the Eyes Work
(National Eye Institute) Also in Spanish
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NEI for Kids: Glossary
(National Eye Institute)
Find an Expert
Children
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About the Eye
(National Eye Institute)
- Corneal Abrasions (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
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Sports and Eye Safety: Tips for Parents and Teachers
(National Eye Institute)
Teenagers
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Colored Contact Lens Dangers
(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