Emergency Eye Care

You should never wait to get medical attention for eye injuries, pain, or other distressing symptoms. Emergency eye care from Nadezhda Nisimova, OD, and the team at Vistasite Eye Care in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, New York, provide rapid treatment that can prevent serious complications like vision loss. The skilled team quickly evaluates your eye and begins the personalized treatment you need to ease your symptoms and protect your vision. If you need immediate attention, call the New York City office to arrange for emergency eye care.

When do I need emergency eye care?

Severe pain or changes in vision that occur suddenly require immediate medical attention. However, you should seek emergency eye care any time you have an eye injury. Your immediate symptoms may not reflect the potential damage that puts your vision at risk.

Problems that need emergency eye care include:

• Cuts
• Burns
• Traumatic injury
• Scratched eye
• Foreign object in your eye
• Signs of an infection (red, swollen eyes, pain, discharge, light sensitivity)
• Chemical injury (getting any dangerous substance in your eye)

If you have an eye injury, don’t rub your eye, try to remove a foreign object, or put anything (even medication) in your eye. You could end up accidentally causing more damage.

What symptoms indicate I need emergency eye care?

You need emergency care if you have eye pain, burning, stinging, or itching that doesn’t improve or gets worse.

In addition to eye discomfort, the following symptoms warrant emergency attention:

• Double vision
• Partial or total vision loss
• Bleeding in or around your eye
• Seeing many floaters and flashes of light
• Bruising and swelling
• Headache with eye pressure
• Cut or torn eyelid
• Unequal pupil sizes

The symptoms of many eye emergencies often appear suddenly. However, you could have a slow, steady change in vision. You might experience what seems like a shadow over part of your vision, a subtle but important sign of a detached retina (especially if it occurs together with floaters and flashes of light). Detached retinas need emergency care to prevent vision loss.

Do infections need emergency eye care?

Some eye infections require immediate, emergency eye care; others need care with a same- or next-day appointment.

Common eye infections, such as pink eye (conjunctivitis) and blepharitis (an eyelid infection), seldom require emergency attention, but they do need medical care.

Infections that demand emergency attention include keratitis (infected cornea) and uveitis (infection in the area underneath the white of your eye). These conditions need emergency care because they can damage your eyes and cause vision loss.

Symptoms of uveitis include floaters and red eyes, with or without eye pain. If you have keratitis, the cornea swells up, and your eye is red and painful. Both conditions may cause light sensitivity, blurry vision, or decreased vision.

If you need emergency attention, call Vistasite Eye Care immediately or have someone drive you to the office.