While I don’t recommend having a “Google” for medical self diagnosis (there’s a lot of duff forum posts), I couldn’t find that many posts on how people have recovered from an abrasion. Here’s one post to address that imbalance…
On Tuesday 12th July my son accidently kicked me in the right eye during a nappy change. For the first 30 minutes I couldn’t feel any pain, but my vision had a disturbing tint of white. It was like looking through a steamed up windows.
The pain kicked in after about 1 hour, but I didn’t want to visit the hospital as I assumed it’s one of those things that will be okay after an hour or two.
Three hours later my Mrs drove us all to accident and emergency at the hospital. During the ride to the hospital and walking to A&E, the pain we so immense that I couldn’t open either eye,
The doctor squirted a few drops of some pain killer into my eye and I could open both eyes without any pain. It was amazing stuff. Following that he examined my eye for any internal damage (thankfully not finding anything) then put a few drops of some orange substance (fluorescein) in it. The fluorescein makes any corneal abrasions turn green.
The doctor rather worryingly said my abrasion was the size of Africa (meaning it was quite large). It was a round abrasion 3mm in diameter. With permission, I managed to take a picture of his notes…
Chloramphenicol which had to be applied 4 times a day for 5 days. I was asked to return on Thursday (2 days later) for a check up.
Just before leaving the hospital, my wife took this picture. The green is caused by the fluorescein. The dark green is my iris and the light green is the area with the abrasion.
The doctor had lead me to believe the pain would be unbearable that night, but I was more worried about losing my vision. Don't get me wrong, it was painful - I was doped up on Paracetamol and Ibuprofen most of the time. I found Ibuprofen gave the most relief. Made a mistake on the first evening by not applying the medicine.
During the next 48 hours my vision was very blurred and tear ducts where working overtime. I spent most of the time with my eye shut, as it felt better.
The drive to hospital on Thursday was painful, thankfully my wife drove the car. The sunlight was hurting my eye. Bloody typical – British summers aren’t usually that sunny unless your recovering from a cornea abrasion!
The doctor applied some more fluorescein, and said that the abrasion had mostly recovered. Only three small pin pick holes remained. My vision was still blurred.
The following Tuesday (1 week after the accident), I still had blurred vision. Being a IT professional in front of a monitor for 8 hours a day was unbearable. I arranged a visit to my local General Practitioner.
He performed another fluorescein test, and said my cornea didn’t have any abrasions. Quite worrying considering my (long and short sighted) vision was still blurred.
It’s 2 weeks since the accident. I think my vision is getting better in my eye. But it’s difficult to say. I’m booked into see the ophthalmologist this Thursday (16 days after the accident).
I’ll update this blog when I’ve got more news.
- Update 27/07/2011 - I could resist searching the Internet for my blurred vision. Came across this page, which describes Cornea Endema (swelling of the Cornea). The cornea is made of 5 layers, if fluid gets between these layers, it can cause blurred vision. Muro 128 ointment can be used to draw out this fluid (here's a bit more info). Wonder if the opthamologist says the same thing tomorrow...
- Update 30/07/2011 - Visited the ophthalmologist a couple of days ago. While there's no serious issues with my eye, he said that the top layers of the cornea typically repair themselves after 2-3 days, but the lower layers can take several weeks. Not totally sure why, but he recommended a use Viscotears (typically used to treat dry syndrome) for 6 weeks, even though I've no history of dry eye or pain.
I must admit that my vision is getting better in my eye. Based on my experience of a large cornea abrasion...
- Days 1-2: Experienced the most pain. Had to keep my eye shut due to the pain. Found Ibuprofen helped better than paracetamol.
- Days 3: Top layer of cornea about 97% repaired. No pain unless exposed to bright sunlight.
- Week 1: No pain, just blurred vision.
- Weeks 2-3: Blurred vision improving.
