Page 63 - (DK) Home Doctor: Providing practical advice on home treatments

COMMON CONDITIONS: EYE AND EAR PROBLEMS 61

Foreign object in the eye

If you get something in your eye, it can cause irritation, redness,
WARNING
watering, and blurred vision. In many instances, the foreign
object is something tiny, such as an eyelash or a speck of dust Seek immediate medical attention if:
or grit, and will wash out automatically as you blink and produce ● An object sticks on or in the eye,
or rests on the iris
tears. If it remains floating on the white of your eye and you are ● You think something entered your
sure there is no other injury, you can usually remove it yourself eye while you were using a power
or get someone to remove it for you. tool, or hammering or chiseling.

What you can do yourself
PRACTICAL TECHNIQUE
Take the following steps to remove a speck of dust
or debris on the white of an eye. Flushing out a foreign object
Use this procedure to flush a speck of debris out
● Don’t rub the affected eye. Wash your hands
of your own or another person’s eye.
thoroughly. If you are wearing contact lenses,
remove them immediately. ● Treat another person’s eye by putting a towel
around his or her shoulders to catch runoff. Tilt the
● If you are treating someone else, sit the person
head to one side so that the affected eye is lower.
in a well-lit place and check the eye for specks by Pour the water into the uppermost corner of the
gently pulling down the lower eyelid and asking eye and let it drain out of the other side.
him or her to look upward and then to the right and ● Treat your own eye by filling a small glass, or
to the left. Repeat the procedure for the upper eyebath if you have one, with water. Put a towel
eyelid, pulling the eyelid up and asking the person around your shoulders to catch runoff. Rest the rim
to look down, right, and left. To check your own of the glass or eye bath on the bone of the lower part
eye, sit in front of a mirror and pull your lower of your eye socket. Keeping your eye open, tip your
lid down and then the upper lid up. head back and pour in water to wash out the speck.
● If you do find a speck of debris on the white Flushing your eye
of the eye, try flushing the eye with water (see Pour the water directly into
PRACTICAL TECHNIQUE, right). your eye, letting it drain
freely onto the towel.
● If the speck has not been flushed out, try to lift
it off the eye by lightly touching it with the edge
of a clean, dampened handkerchief or tissue.
● If the speck is under the upper eyelid, grasp the
upper lashes and pull the upper eyelid over the
lower one to brush it out of the eye.

Seek medical advice
Arrange immediate medical help if:
● A foreign object cannot be removed easily
● You suffer pain, redness, extreme sensitivity
to light, or blurred vision after you have
removed a particle from your eye