# Scratch on eye, ER or Eye DR. tomorrow?



## flg mama (Apr 22, 2008)

My 3 yo son got poked in the eye playing with another kid today. He cried for awhile and then went outside to play. I was pushing him in a swing and when he hopped off he brushed against a tall plant and then started up again that his eye hurt (same one from 30 min previous eye poke, the injuries abound with boys







) He proceeded to scream for a half hour. I assumed he was overtired really, and gave him a wet towel and flushed his eye continuously with cold water. He insisted on keeping something cold on his eye. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept for almost 2 hours woke up screaming again. I got him an ice pack and he cried for an hour while I rocked him. He is distracted now by a freeze pop and Curious George (just the sound though, he has both eyes covered by the ice pack). It is bed time and he is calm, do you think its ok if we go to an eye doctor first thing in the morning or should we be heading straight to the hospital? I read that for eye scratches drs typically give antibiotic drops and let it heal. I also saw that sometimes for young kids the hospital will give a general anesthesia so they can examine the eye (yikes!!) I'm not familiar with eye injuries, anyone have any experience with this? I would really prefer not to go to the hospital tonight, but of course I will go if what I've described warrants it. Thanks!


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## dbsam (Mar 3, 2007)

We went through this last year my post.

We did decide to take him to the ER. He was in a lot of pain but started to heal quickly after the first twenty-four hours of anitbiotic drops.

I hope your son feels better soon.

btw, They did not need to sedate my son. Also, you might want to ask for pain meds; we didn't but wish we w/h because he was in a lot of pain throughout the night.


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## flg mama (Apr 22, 2008)

He is really tired and resting with a dish towel over his eyes (which are closed) for a few minutes this evening he took the cloth away and opened both eyes but then went back to closing them. My husband will be home in 15 minutes (after a 12 hour work day) and my son was with me while I babysat for 9 hours today. We are all tired, but I am wired and wondering if we should go in so we can get the antibiotic drops tonight. He typically is HYSTERICAL whenever we have to see the doctor, and since he is so tired I am really not sure if he will be better if we go tonight and he can just rest while we wait for the doctors or if he will get all worked up, increasing his pain. He is calm right now and has been for the last three hours. I hate when stuff happens in the evening and the hospital is the only choice..


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## dbsam (Mar 3, 2007)

I only took my son because he was in so much pain. If your son is comfortable, maybe the scratch isn't too bad and he isn't in pain. If that is the case, I wouldn't want to drag him into the ER either.


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## Kristine233 (Jul 15, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dbsam* 
I only took my son because he was in so much pain. If your son is comfortable, maybe the scratch isn't too bad and he isn't in pain. If that is the case, I wouldn't want to drag him into the ER either.

This. If he was still in pain and crying I'd say take him right away. Eye injuries are seriously painful. But if is already resting nice I'd let it be and see how it is in the morning. Eye injuries typically heal pretty fast. I was told 24-48 hours for basic ones.


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## katelove (Apr 28, 2009)

I am an ED nurse and my ED nurse practitioner husband and I both say go to ED now. Sorry







Corneal abrasions can get infected very quickly and you can get ulceration of the cornea, especially if there is still foreign matter in the scratch. He should not need a GA unless there is penetration of the eyeball (and it doesn't sound like there is from your post). Local anaesthetic drops will make an examination comfortable for him *if* he is able to co-operate. If he isn't then sedation may be needed but this would be much lighter than a GA and he would be able to go home as soon as he recovered, typically about an hour after administration.

Hope you can get him sorted out without too much trauma.


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## KMK_Mama (Jan 29, 2006)

My DD scratched her eye really bad when we were at Disney Land last year. You could actually see the scratch with the naked eye. It was pretty bad. I took her to urgent care and they gave me antibiotic eye drops and that was all. I still ended up having to take her to the eye specialist the next day. He gave her pain drops, new antibiotic drops, and he put a contact lens on her eye to act as a bandaid. He really saved our vacation! Once the contact was in and her eye lid wasn't constantly disturbing the scratch she felt better and it began to heal.


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## flg mama (Apr 22, 2008)

We ended up taking him in at 10pm. He was asleep and so cooperative it was slightly funny but mostly heartbreaking. They got us right in to an exam room. I held him and they put the dye drops in and I could see the scratch very clearly then, right in the middle of his cornea (praying it heals well and vision is not impaired). They put in lots of drops and my son hardly struggled and actually said thank you after each set of drops and then fell back asleep. They prescribed him antibiotic drops (for every 12 hrs) and Tylenol w/ codeine for pain. I feel so bad that I thought he was just exaggerating or overtired, I had no idea how serious an eye scratch can be. We will see an eye doctor today. Thank you for all the replies.


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## pianojazzgirl (Apr 6, 2006)

You did well mama!









What a sweetheart your ds is saying "thank you" (I actually said "awwww" out loud when I read that). Sending lots of healing vibes his way...


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## ~Charlie's~Angel~ (Mar 17, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *pianojazzgirl* 
You did well mama!









What a sweetheart your ds is saying "thank you" (*I actually said "awwww" out loud when I read that*). Sending lots of healing vibes his way...

I also thought the same thing. What a cutie pie. Glad hes on the mend.


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## flg mama (Apr 22, 2008)

Thanks for the support mamas! He is doing very well now







but what a scare! I had never heard of anyone scratching their eye or how very painful it can be. "Scratch" sounds like such a superficial injury, and it really was from just an accidental eye poke. I had no idea.. I was thinking he was over reacting at first. It seems like getting poked in the eye is as common as stubbing your toe, scraping a knee, slamming a finger in a door etc..

I am typically the mom at the playground who goes running with neosporin and band aids even when other people's children get hurt, lol. I'm usually the one that the other mom's roll their eyes for responding to every little bump and whimper. I do feel bad for not knowing how intensely that hurt him and not responding immediately the way he needed me too. He is fine now and I apologized to him for not knowing right away what to do. Then I forgave myself.

I took him to the eye doctor the day after the injury for a follow up. The very kind doctor said his eye was almost completely healed in the 24 hours since the injury. Kids are amazing. My son was so cute at the appt., he loved the praise the Dr. gave for reading the letters off the screen ("that's Z for zebra..") and when the Dr. commented on how well he was opening his eyes wide, my son then decided to use his hands to manually open his eye further







It was hilarious! After the doctor removed his eye patch and did his thing he said we could leave the patch off. My son still covered his eyes from the sunlight on the ride home, and was still light sensitive the following day too. Two days after the incident he seemed back to normal.

One thing I have to say about the experience, besides that I am so grateful that he is healing well and his vision was not impaired, is that the doctors at the ER and the office the next day were awesome! They were so gentle, quick, and reassuring. My wish is that more people experience such comforting care when they have the scary experience of bringing their child to an ER. Thanks again for the replies and well wishes.


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