Causes of eye pain

There are many possible causes of eye pain, including different eye conditions.

Other things that can also cause eye pain include eye injuries and eyelid problems.

Do not try to diagnose the cause of the pain yourself.

Possible causes of eye pain
Symptoms	Possible cause
Painful and watering eye, blurred vision, feeling like there's something in your eye	Something in your eye, like dirt or an insect, or a scratch on the surface of your eye
Pain with a gritty or burning feeling, sticky eyes	Conjunctivitis
Sore, blurry or watery eyes	Dry eyes
Sharp, burning or piercing pain around the eye	Cluster headache
Pain, red eyes, blurred vision, sensitivity to light	Infection, such as an infection caused by wearing contact lenses or herpes simplex eye infection
Tenderness around the eyes, vision changes	Glaucoma
Pain that's worse when reading, watering eyes, vision changes	Uveitis, a rare condition that causes inflammation inside part of your eye
Pain, vision problems, changes in how you see colour	Neuromyelitis optica, a rare condition that affects the nerves in your eyes

Urgent advice: Ask for an urgent GP or optician appointment, or get help from NHS 111 if:

You have eye pain and:

You can call 111 or get help from 111 online. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.

your eye symptoms start suddenly
you have eye pain that keeps you awake at night
you wear contact lenses and have eye pain and vision loss
you have a red eye, severe headache and feel sick
you have severe pain or loss of vision and had eye surgery or treatment in the last 4 weeks
you cannot see (loss of vision)
you have injured or pierced your eye
something is stuck in your eye (like a piece of glass or grit)

Do not drive to A&E. Ask someone to drive you or call 999 and ask for an ambulance.

Bring any medicines you take with you.