Providing Emergency Eye Care Services in St. Louis
We offer emergency services that require immediate and urgent eye care. If your eye is injured, don't try to judge the severity of it. Immediately seek the opinion of an eye doctor to lessen the risk of hurting your vision. We understand ocular emergencies can arise at any time.
Please call our St. Louis practice at 555-555-5555 for further instructions. Use your best judgment. If you feel your vision issue is urgent, do not delay treatment - visit your nearest emergency treatment center.
Eye Safety - Safety Eyewear - Eye Injury Prevention
This short video stresses the importance of knowing the hazards at home and the workplace regarding your eyes. In this video, we review a few actual incidents where people lost part or all of their vision, along with one whose vision was saved by safety eyewear.
Eye Emergencies
We are always willing to help, should you ever experience an eye emergency. Our office provides emergency services for eye infections, eye injuries and other eye urgencies. State of the art equipment allows us to examine the front surface of the eye and also digitally scan inside the eye for infection or damage. We accommodate many eye emergencies such as:
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- Eye infections
- Foreign materials stuck in the eyes
- Eye trauma
- Scratched eyes
- Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes
- Lost or broken contact lenses or eyeglasses
- Flashes of light in the vision
- “Floaters” in the vision
- Red or painful eyes
- Dislodged contact lenses
- Uncomfortable, itchy, or irritated eyes
- DO NOT press on an injured eye or allow the victim to rub the eye(s).
- DO NOT attempt to remove a foreign body that is resting on the cornea (the clear surface of the eye through which we see) or that appears to be embedded in any part of the eye.
- DO NOT use dry cotton (including cotton swabs) or sharp instruments (such as tweezers) on the eye.
- DO NOT attempt to remove an embedded object.
Studies have shown that an overwhelming number of emergency room visits could have been treated by an optometrist. These ranged from foreign bodies to severe eye allergies to eye infections as the most common reasons for emergency room visits. It is not always necessary to go to an emergency room for eye emergencies. Optometrists are equipped to treat the majority of eye emergencies.
DO call our office in St. Louis at 555-555-5555 for further instructions! We are here for you!
Red, Pink or Sore Eyes?
We are ready to look after ALL of your eye care needs in one location. In addition to the services you already rely on us for such as routine eye exams, contact lenses, designer frames and eyeglasses - think of your Optometrist first for:
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- sore, red, or itchy eyes
- treatment of "pink eye" and other bacterial infections
- removal of foreign bodies from the eye (such as wood or metal)
- treatment of eye allergies or burns
- emergency eye care
- post-surgical follow-up
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This is convenient and cost effective for your whole family and you can be sure you are receiving the attention of an eye care specialist.
Foreign Bodies
A foreign body is something such as an eyelash, sawdust, sand, or dirt can that gets into the eyes. The main symptom is irritation or pain. Depending on what it is and how the injury happened, the foreign body may pierce the eye and cause serious injury or it may simply go away with no long-term problem.
The foreign object may set off an inflammatory cascade, resulting in dilation of the surrounding vessels and subsequent edema of the lids, conjunctiva, and cornea. If not removed, a foreign body can cause infection.
If anything is stuck in your eye for more than a period of a couple of hours, you must immediately cease all attempts to remove it yourself. Keep in mind that the eyes are an extremely delicate organ and any attempts to try anything extraordinary with them can only have negative and adverse results. If the foreign body you are talking about is not bothering you too much, then you are advised to visit an eye doctor to take care of it. If not you may need to call to emergency service of your region.
How Can An Eye Doctor Help?
If there is a foreign body in your eye, such as a piece of grit, your eye doctor may try and remove it. They will put anesthetic eye drops in your eye first, in order to numb it and prevent any pain.
If the foreign body is easy to get to, it may be possible to remove it by simply rinsing your eye with water, or by wiping it away with a cotton wool bud or triangle of card. However, if this is unsuccessful, your eye doctor may try and remove the foreign body by lifting it out with the tip of a small metal instrument.
The foreign body could be stuck underneath your upper eyelid, especially if you can feel something there, or you have scratches or grazes (abrasions) on the top half of the transparent outer layer of your eye (cornea). If this is the case, it may be necessary to gently turn your eyelid inside out in order to remove the foreign body.
Once the anesthetic eye drops have worn off, your eye may feel a bit uncomfortable until your abrasion heals.
Whatever is happening with your eyes or if you suffer or even suspect that a foreign body has penetrated the outer eye layer better go without delay to the nearest treatment center. Doing nothing can lead to loss of vision, premature cataracts and damage to the retina so do not take any chances, delay is dangerous.