Emergency Eye Care | Wichita, KS

Know What to Do During an Eye Emergency

Accidents happen, and when they do, you can trust the care and treatment you’ll receive from our compassionate eye care team at The Eye Gallery. With a combination of experience and our diagnostic technology, we can quickly and effectively treat different eye emergencies and injuries.

Contact us when you or a loved one has sustained an eye injury. Although some eye injuries are minor and easily treated at home, even the smallest injury may lead to long-term consequences. Many eye emergencies can also only be diagnosed during a thorough eye exam and treated by an optometrist.

If your eye emergency occurs outside of our business hours, please proceed to your nearest hospital or urgent care center.

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Symptoms of an Eye Emergency

If you’ve recently injured your eye and are noticing any of the following symptoms, please call us immediately:

Changes in vision
Sudden hazy or blurred vision
Seeing black spots or flashes of light
Sudden vision loss
Red, crusty, or swollen eyelids
Pain in or around the eye
Blood in the clear parts of the eyes
Difficulty seeing
Cut or torn eyelid
Unusual pupil shape or size in the affected eye
One eye doesn’t move as well as the other
Feeling that something is in the eye
Seeing halos or rainbows around lights

Types of Eye Emergencies and How to Respond

The eyes are delicate organs, and so there are many types of eye emergencies you may experience. Whether you’ve gotten a tiny foreign object caught in your eye, like sand, dirt, or sawdust, that you can’t blink away, or a more traumatic injury to the eye, we’re here to assist you with professional guidance and care.

Knowing how to respond after an injury or emergency occurs can help you safeguard your sight. Call us during our business hours for guidance, or proceed to your nearest emergency department for prompt treatment.

Learn about some first aid steps you can take if you or a loved one has sustained an eye injury to protect your eyes from further damage before you seek medical help.

Playing sports, doing housework, cooking, playing with your pets or kids, or working: there are many different ways to scratch your eye. You may experience symptoms immediately, or they may take a few hours to arise. Symptoms include:

Pain and redness
Excessive tearing
A feeling like something is in your eye
Blurry vision or sensitivity to light
Headache

While most scratches are minor and will heal on their own, you should always seek diagnosis and treatment from a trained optometrist. To reduce the risk of infection, you may be given antibiotic eye drops or a contact lens bandage.

Do not rub your eye or touch it with anything, like fingers, cotton swabs, or other foreign objects. Instead, rinse the affected eye with cool, clean water or saline solution to help flush debris. Remember to blink as well! Then call us right away.

Small foreign objects like sand, dust, dirt, eyelashes, hair, and other particles are common eye irritants and constantly enter the eyes. The eyes are usually effective at removing these items, but you can help the process by flushing your eyes.

Remember not to touch or rub your eye. Try blinking to help remove the particle(s) from your eye, or flush your eyes with cool, clean water or saline solution.

Larger and sharper objects, like glass or metal, can become embedded in the eye and present a more serious risk.

Call us, visit the nearest emergency room, or call 911 immediately.

A hit to the eye from an accident or fall can injure the eye or its surrounding structures. Symptoms include:

Bruising and swelling around the eye (black eye)
Bleeding in the eye or cuts on the eyelid
Facial numbness
Pain in and around the eye
Blurry or double vision

If you or a loved one has been struck in the eye, do not apply pressure. However, you can gently apply a cold compress to the area to help reduce swelling and pain, but don’t use meat or other food items that may carry bacteria.

Even a light blow can cause significant damage, so please call us immediately or visit your nearest emergency room if we are not available.

Chemical exposure to sensitive eye tissues can lead to chemical burns. While most chemical burns occur in industrial settings, they can also happen at home. Always check the product to find out what chemical caused the burn.

Acid Burns
Household products like toilet cleaners, batteries, and bleach contain acid and burn when they splash into the eyes.

If an acid has splashed into your face and eyes, immediately flush the area with cool, clean water for at least 15 minutes. Then call us or visit your nearest emergency room if we are not available.

Alkali Burns
Drain cleaners and industrial cleaning solutions, household cleaning solutions, fertilizers, cement, and plaster all contain alkali and are responsible for alkali burns.
In the case of an alkali burn, immediately flush your eyes with cool, clean water for at least 15 minutes. If you wear contact lenses, remove them as soon as possible.

Alkali burns can cause severe and extensive ocular damage and require immediate attention. Call us or visit your nearest emergency room.

Prevent Eye Injuries with Protective Eyewear

Sport and safety eyewear can help reduce the risk of eye injuries while you’re at work, playing sports, or even performing household chores and yard work. By wearing appropriate protective eyewear, you can prevent many eye injuries before they occur.

We carry a wide selection of specialty eyewear in our eyeglass boutique. Our experienced and friendly opticians and frame stylists can help you find the perfect style for your work, favorite hobby, or sport!

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