Superficial eye injuries are minor eye injuries, but because the area around the eye bruises particularly easily, they can sometimes look worse than they actually are.
Corneal abrasions
Symptoms of a corneal abrasion include:
- eye pain and sensitivity to light (photophobia)
- increase in tears produced by the eye
- blurred or distorted vision
- squinting caused by spasm (involuntary contraction) of the muscle surrounding the eye
- feeling that something is in your eye and it cannot be removed
Iritis (uveitis)
Symptoms of iritis include:
- eye pain and sensitivity to light (photophobia)
- deep ache in your eye, or in the brow region
- small or irregular-shaped pupil
- blurred vision
- red, inflamed eye
- increase in tears produced by the eye
- headache
Foreign bodies
Symptoms of foreign bodies may include:
- sensation that something is in the eye
- increase in tears produced by the eye
- eye pain
- blurred or double vision
- sensitivity to light (photophobia)
- a visible foreign body on the cornea
- a rust ring or stain on the cornea if the foreign body is metal
Other possible symptoms
Other symptoms of an eye injury can also include:
- pain when you move your eye
- burning sensation
- swollen eyelids
- a red spot of blood on the sclera (the tough white coating of the eyeball)
- swelling and bruising around the eye
When to seek medical advice
Seek urgent medical advice if you have any of the following symptoms:
- persistent eye pain
- continuous bleeding from your eye
- foreign bodies that cannot be removed
- blurred and decreased vision
- flashing lights, spots or shapes made up of shadows in your field of vision
- redness in the eye, particularly around your iris (the coloured part of the eye that controls the amount of light that enters)
- pain when exposed to bright light (photophobia)
- a laceration (cut) to your eyeball or eyelid
Always seek medical attention if you sustain an eye injury as a result of an object hitting your eye at high speed.
