Welcome to Case of the Day!
An individual came in who complained of injuring their eye, something we have seen not uncommonly, especially here in Florida. This gentleman went outside to cut his grass, got his weed wacker out, and told us he forgot to put on protective eyewear. So he’s doing his weed wacking when suddenly, a rock flew up and hit him in the eye.
When he came into the office, his vision was still normal—20/20 in both eyes—but the white part of his eye was all full of blood, not all the way around it, but most of the way around. Fortunately, it appears that he didn’t actually tear his eye open; he just had a contusion and a hemorrhage. The blood vessels that cover the sclera, or the white part of the eye, were broken, and he hemorrhaged on the surface of his eye.
We dilated his eye and looked around inside. He didn’t do any damage inside his eye or tear his retina, but he had a very large hemorrhage on the surface of his eye. It appeared he was going to be okay, that this would heal, and he would be fine, but there can be serious injuries.
Someone doing tasks like construction work or other jobs where there’s a risk of objects flying up and hitting them in the eye must wear protective eyewear. It’s just too serious a problem when you get a penetrating injury to your eye—that is, the force is so strong it cuts your eye—because you’re at very high risk of losing your eye or losing significant vision in your eye.
If you are weed wacking, landscaping, cutting bushes, grinding, working on a car, or hammering on any kind of object where you could get scratched in the eye, you’ve got to be wearing safety eye gear. We don’t like seeing these injuries because they’re totally preventable as long as you’re wearing protective eyewear.
Many years ago, we actually had a patient who essentially lost most of his vision. We repaired his eye, but he lost most of his vision because he just made a mistake: he was shooting one of the nail guns, and it ricocheted and missed where he was aiming, and came back and hit him in the eye. These injuries can be devastating, so please be careful! Wear protective eye gear if you’re at any risk of something flying and hitting your eye.
If you have any questions about this type of injury, you can always contact us at the Cataract & Refractive Institute of Florida. If not, may God bless you with healthy eyes and great vision.
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At the Cataract & Refractive Institute of Florida, our board-certified ophthalmologist uses state-of-the-art tools and techniques to help patients manage their eye issues and vision problems. Schedule an appointment online or call our office near you!
Eye Doctor Cape Coral FL Office
- 613 Del Prado Boulevard, 33990
- (239) 772-2122
- 1150 Lee Boulevard, 33936
- (239) 368-1020
- 4061 Bonita Beach Road, 34134
- (239) 949-1190
