Eye Injuries
What?
Blunt trauma accounts for most sports-related eye injuries. The extent of ocular damage depends on the size, hardness, and velocity of the blunt object, and the force imparted directly to the eye. Complications of blunt trauma include orbital blow-out fracture, orbital and lid contusions, iris injury, ruptured globe, traumatic iritis, subconjunctival hemorrhage, hyphema--blood in the anterior chamber, retinal hemorrhage, vitreous hemorrhage, choroidal rupture, retinal tears, and retinal detachment. Traumatic opitic neuropathy that results in injury to the optic nerve may also occur as a result of closed head trauma. Signs of an orbital fracture include swelling, bruising, pain, especially with movement of the eyes, double vision that disappears when one eye is covered, and eyelid swelling after blowing the nose. Symptoms of iritis include deep aching pain, excessive tearing and light sensitivity. Optic nerve injury usually causes instantaneous visual loss. Symptoms of retinal detachment include a sudden or gradual increase in either the number of floaters, which are little "cobwebs" or specks that float about in your field of vision, and/or light flashes in the eye. Another symptom is the appearance of a curtain over the field of vision.
Penetrating injuries are relatively uncommon but may occur even with large projectiles. Such injuries range from mild abrasions to serious lacerations.
Orbital foreign body injury occurs from anything that gets into the cornea or orbit of the eye, including small pieces of wood, metal, plastic. Symptoms depend on where the foreign body is embedded, but include tearing, pain, double vision, light sensitivity or feeling of something in eye.
Corneal injuries or abrasions occur when a foreign object gets into the eye and scratches the cornea. Symptoms of corneal abrasion include feeling that something is in the eye, tearing, blurred vision, eye pain when exposed to bright light, and spasm of muscles around the eye area.
Radiation injuries occur as a result of over exposure to ultraviolet light during activities such as water sports, snow skiing, welding, and using tanning booths. The most common radiation injury is ultraviolet keratitis, which can be thought of as a sunburn to the cornea (also called flash burn). Symptoms include pain, light sensitivity, redness and a feeling that something is in the eye. Solar retinopathy occurs after looking into the sun for an extended period. The primary symptom is decreased vision.
Chemical burns to the eye occur as a result of a splash of liquid getting into the eye or from aerosol exposure. The most common symptoms of chemical burns are pain and burning. The eye may also become red, or the eyelids swollen.
