What should I do if my eye is burned?
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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What to do with eye burn - the first question that arises in people who have encountered this problem. Let's consider the features of first aid for eye burn, as well as types of eye burns and methods of their treatment.
Eye burn is a very dangerous injury. If you do not help the victim in time, a person may lose sight. What subsequently can lead to a loss of work and disability. In medical practice, there is such a category of varieties of eye burns:
- Thermal burn - eye burn, obtained by boiling water, steam, hot oil and other substances.
- A chemical burn is a burn caused by contact with an eye of an acid or chemical capable of causing a burn.
- Burns with radiant energy or electro-ophthalmia. This burn can be obtained due to the arrival of bright light on the eye. Contact with the eyes of a large number of ultraviolet or infrared rays.
There are such degrees of eye burn:
- The conjunctiva and eyelid skin is edematic and has a red color. The upper layer of the cornea is damaged.
- The skin of the eyelids is covered with small blisters with a sap, the cornea of the eye becomes cloudy. A burn of the mucous eye fills the affected surface with areas of whitish, dying tissue. Damage goes to the middle layer of the eye.
- On the skin of the eyelids there are no blisters, the area of eye damage is filled with a dark dry scab. The burn of the cornea penetrates to the deep layers. There is a "frosted glass" effect.
- Necrosis of the conjunctiva and the entire tissue of the eyelid. The burn of the cornea of the eye penetrates to full depth and acquires a "porcelain" look. Possible complete destruction of the lens, vitreous, cornea and so on.
First aid for eye burn
First of all, you do not need to panic. If the victim is at home or at work, you need to call for help. As you can not handle it yourself, it's unlikely.
Also need to call an ambulance to provide qualified medical assistance on site and hospitalization in the eye department for further treatment.
- If the patient has received a thermal burn, try to open the eye and remove the substance causing pain and further damage.
- If the patient received a chemical burn, you should try to remove the substance causing the burn from the eye. Rinse the eye with water until the chemical is removed, whether it is an alkali or an acid.
- If the patient has received a radiant burn or electro-ophthalmia, it is necessary to keep the eyes closed or wear sunglasses. Immediately call an ambulance or apply an injury to the item.
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Eye burn treatment
The victim must be in the hospital to assist and determine the degree of burn. The doctor determines which type of eye burn the case relates to. This is all necessary for further treatment, as well as the selection of medications, and the definition of the technique of behavior of the patient with the injured eye.
- With a 1st degree burn, the patient is treated outpatient, under the supervision of the district eye doctor. In a conjunctival sac, drops of 0.5% monomycin solution, 0.25% levomycetin solution, 0.02% furacilin solution, are poured for 1% tetracycline ointment 3-6 times a day for several days until complete healing.
- At a burn of 2, 3 or 4 degrees the patient is in a hospital for complex treatment. The patient is constantly given irrigation of the anterior part of the eye with an isotonic solution of sodium chloride lasting 20 minutes every 2-3 hours. To prevent the development of infection, antibiotics Kolbitsion, Poludan, Tsiprolet, Vigamoks are used. For eyelids ointments containing antibiotics and sulfonamides 1% tetracycline ointment, Sofraks.
What to do with eye burn - seek medical help. Thus, with large lesions of the tissues of the eye, surgical intervention can not be avoided. The operation is aimed at restoring the functions of the eye and its tissues. If there is no possibility of reconstructing the lens, the cornea and other parts of the eye, they can be implanted. If you can not save the eye itself, doctors perform a plastic correction. The incapable eye is removed, and it is changed to a prosthesis. With this outcome, the patient gets disability and work restrictions.