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

• 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

• Eye Injuries (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
• 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

• Auto Battery Safety Facts (Prevent Blindness America) - PDF
• Preventing Eye Injuries (American Academy of Ophthalmology)
• 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
• 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
• Eye Injuries in Construction (Center to Protect Workers' Rights) - PDF Also in Spanish
• Eye Injuries in Sports (American Academy of Family Physicians) Also in Spanish
• Hyphema (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
• Macular Pucker (National Eye Institute)

Images

• Corneal Abrasion (Logical Images)
• Corneal Foreign Body (Logical Images)

Videos and Tutorials

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

Clinical Trials

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

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

• Article: Emergency penetrating keratoplasty in corneal perforations.
• Article: Medical interventions for traumatic hyphema.
• Article: Use of Eye Shields for Mohs Micrographic Surgery of the Eyelids...
• Eye Injuries -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Diagram of the Eye (National Eye Institute) Also in Spanish
• Glossary of Terms (Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology)
• NEI for Kids: Glossary (National Eye Institute)

Find an Expert

• American Optometric Association
• National Eye Institute

Children

• About the Eye (National Eye Institute)
• Eye Injuries (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
• For Parents, Teachers and Coaches: About Sports Eye Injury and Protective Eyewear (National Eye Institute) - PDF
• Leading Cause of Eye Injuries in School-Aged Children are Sports-Related (Prevent Blindness America)
• Pediatric Ocular Trauma (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus)

Teenagers

• Colored Contact Lens Dangers (American Academy of Ophthalmology) Also in Spanish
• Corneal Abrasions (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

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