One of the most common types of eye injuries involves the cornea, the protective film around the front of your eye. Any kind of contact with sand, dirt, dust, wood shavings, metal particles and even an edge of a piece of paper can scratch or cut the cornea of the eye. These scratches are called corneal abrasions.


Some corneal abrasions get infected and form into a corneal ulcer, which is a serious problem.

Corneal abrasions can often be very painful. You will experience blurred vision, tears, tenderness and redness in the eye along with irritation, the kind when you have a grain of salt in you eye.


You may also experience headaches.

In such cases you should seek medical attention immediately. However, there are a few things you can try at home to ease the discomfort and the pain.

• Rinse your eye gently with water or a saline solution, if available. Use an eyecup of a clean glass placed with its rim touching and resting on the bone at the base of your eye socket. Do not rub the eye.

• Blink. Keep trying to blink your eyelids. The movement may remove particles if any in the eye.

• Pull your upper eyelid over your lower eyelid. The lashes of your lower eyelid may remove a particle on the upper eyelid.

Avoid the following actions as they may create injury:

• Do not try to remove an object from the eye. Often, during abrasions, it feels like you have a particle stuck in your eye; however it turns out to be a tear.

• In case you have an object stuck in the eyeball, do not try to remove it. Visit your doctor.

• Do not rub your eye. Touching or rubbing it will worsen the abrasion.

• Do not try to clean your eyeball with a cotton swab or a pair of tweezers.

• Give the eye some rest from intense light. Your eye will be very sensitive to light and you must take care that you wear sunglasses when out in the sun.

See a doctor – ideally, an ophthalmologist. An ophthalmologist is a doctor who is licensed to treat all kinds of eye conditions. Do not delay. Try to follow the steps mentioned below, however, one must not wait for the abrasion to heal as you would be unable tell the intensity of the scratch. The sooner you visit the doctor, the better it is for you.