Is Eye Pain Always Serious?
Are you experiencing pain or discomfort in or around your eyes? Wondering if it’s a serious problem?
Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to this question. There is a long list of reasons for eye pain or discomfort.
Non-serious eye conditions can cause serious pain and discomfort. Permanent vision-threatening eye diseases and conditions can cause no pain at all.
The best thing to do if you are experiencing pain or discomfort in or around your eyes is to schedule an eye exam. Only your eye doctor can diagnose the cause of your eye pain.
After receiving a proper diagnosis, you’ll then need to have the right treatment prescribed.
Keep reading for some of the most common causes of eye pain, which can be serious, while others are not.
Eye Injury
Eye injuries can cause pain that lasts long after the initial impact on your eye. Experiencing an eye injury is a common occurrence in sports or during manual labor.
The best course of action after an eye injury is to immediately seek medical treatment. Your eye doctor will be able to assess the severity of the injury.
It’s common to experience periodic eye pain after an eye injury. Once your eye doctor has assessed and treated your eye injury, later pain from your injury is usually not serious.
Something in Your Eye
The feeling that something is in your eye usually occurs when there is something is in your eye. Tiny foreign objects can adhere to and lodge themselves in your eye.
Examples of this include sand and dirt, as well as metal shavings and sawdust. This kind of eye pain is usually not serious unless you have scratched the surface of your eye.
Even in the case of surface scratches, eye pain is usually not serious. Your vision may be blurry or limited in your scratched eye, but it will heal.
Eye scratches are corneal abrasions. They usually heal on their own in just a few days.
If your vision isn’t back to normal or you still have eye pain after scratching your eye, you could have a deep corneal abrasion. This can lead to a corneal ulcer if left untreated.
Dry Eyes
If your eyes feel both painful and dry, the cause is likely due to dry eye syndrome. Dry eye syndrome occurs if you don’t produce enough tears or the tears you produce are low in quality.
Depending on the severity of your dry eye syndrome, you may experience a lot of pain, or minor discomfort. Artificial tears and eye ointments are common solutions for dry eye syndrome.
These solutions are available over-the-counter. If your symptoms don’t get any better with these, talk to your eye doctor about other treatments.
Schedule an Eye Exam
The best course of action when you are experiencing consistent eye pain and discomfort is to schedule an eye exam. After examining your eyes, your eye doctor will be able to determine if your eye pain is the cause of a serious condition.
You need a diagnosis to treat what’s causing your eye pain. Schedule yours today with Pinke Eye Center in Shelton, CT!
