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Emergency Eye Care

Keeping your eyes healthy sometimes requires more than an annual checkup. Just like with any part of your body, when it comes to your eyes, emergencies can happen. Knowing how to respond to emergency eye care is crucial to your long-term eye health. At Family Eye Care at Westchase, serving Tampa, FL, we are here to help patients keep their eyes healthy, even after an emergency. Keep reading to find out more about emergency eye care.

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How to Identify an Eye Care Emergency

An eye care emergency is any event in which your eye health or vision is threatened. This can include several things:

  • A scratch to the eye
  • Foreign objects in the eye
  • Chemicals in the eye
  • An injury to the eye

If you are experiencing any pain in your eye, whether you know the cause of the pain or not, you should seek out emergency eye care from an optometrist.

How Can an Optometrist Help?

During an emergency eye care event, the sooner you arrive at a medical facility, the better. Your eyes are very fragile and sensitive and in the field of optometry, eye emergencies need to be treated as quickly as possible.  If left untreated, permanent damage can be done to the eyes. Once you arrive at the doctor, you will be examined in order to pinpoint exactly what is causing your pain or discomfort. The doctor will also ask for details concerning the event. If you do not know what is causing your eye pain, the doctor can examine you to better understand the situation.

If there is foreign material in your eyes, you will have your eyes cleaned out. Following this, another examination will be performed to ensure that the material did not damage your eye. Once the issue has been identified, the affected area will be properly treated.

How to Avoid Eye Emergencies

Prevention is always the best medicine. In order to protect the health of your eyes, take precautions to safeguard yourself against eye emergencies.

Always wear protective eyewear when handling chemicals, working with hazardous materials, or working with material that could fly into your eyes.

When participating in recreational activities which could involve blows to the face, always wear protective gear. This could include softball, baseball, football, paintball, airsoft, boxing, wrestling, and many other types of activities.

To learn more about our services, contact us at Family Eye Care at Westchase, serving Tampa, FL. Our number is (813) 814-2020.