Eye Emergencies are often accompanied by pain. When should you act and seek emergency eye care? At Bissell Eye Care, we have invested in state of the art technology that can look into the back of the eye to determine what steps should be taken to best treat your injury.

Situations like being hit in the eye, a chemical burn, sudden onset of blurry or loss of vision, eye scratches, flashes of light or floaters, and abrupt headaches with or without visual impacts would qualify as an emergency and should be checked. A sudden or noticeable change in the quality of your vision must be addressed quickly. Vision changes often indicate a retinal or corneal defect that can cause permanent vision loss if left untreated. One such defect is retinal detachment. If you’re seeing flashing lights and spots and/or a shower of floating spots from within the eye, you may have a detached retina.

Whenever possible, eye redness should be evaluated by a vision-care specialist who can differentiate the type of conjunctivitis and prescribe the proper treatment.

The American Optometric Association recommends seeking medical attention if you experience:

• eye burning or stinging
• one eye not moving like the other
• decreased or double vision
• light sensitivity
• bruising and/or bleeding around the eye
• blood in the white of the eye
• discharge from the eye
• severe itching
• new or severe headaches

The best way to avoid unnecessary injury or eye infection is to practice good eye health and safety measures. This includes wearing protective eyewear when in hazardous working conditions, staying on top of your yearly eye exams, protecting your eyes from harmful UV rays with sunglasses, utilizing blue light protective lenses when working on computers or handheld devices, and practicing good hygiene when wearing contact lenses.

If you have questions or concern regarding your vision or an eye condition, Bissell Eye Care is here for you. Call our office at 724-443-6767 or 724-226-0444. When in doubt, get your eyes checked out!