Experiences with corneal abrasion/ulcer?

[dhcoffey]

My DD17 was just diagnosed with a corneal abrasion or ulcer. My husband took her to the dr, so I'm not sure yet of the official diagnosis. She woke up with her right eye hurting this morning and she's got a white spot on her cornea itself. We're taking her to a specialist in the morning. Her eye dr said it could have been there a while and it's a possible bacteria there. Anyone have any experiences with this? I'm very worried about this.

thanks,
Heather

 

[Mrs.Toad]

I had a corneal ulcer many years ago. The most important thing, no contacts and use those eye drops! Mine healed just fine. I had a coworker who kept wearing her contact lens in that eye even though it hurt like heck. Hers ended up healing just fine, too, but she got a stern talking to from her doctor and had to set her alarm to wake herself up to use the drops every couple of hours for the couple of days.

Did the first doctor prescribe anything? If not, I would think it must not be too bad.

Good luck to your dd

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have had a corneal abrasion before, not an ulcer.

The thing I can't stress enough is how PAINFUL issues with the cornea are! (Intended by Mother Nature, I'm sure, to protect the eye!)

It's good you're seeing an opthamologist.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I had this happen a couple of years back. I thought it was conjunctivitis, and so did the regular (non-eye) doctor I went to. As a result, whatever it was, did not get cleared up and it turned out rather bad. I too had to use the drops every few hours with an alarm. Also, the drops I got had to come from the "serious" pharmacy (not just your regular one, but the special made to order place). Also, it hurt. Was it the most painful thing ever? No. Right now second degree cooking oil burns all over my hand holds that spot, but it was a near second.

Oh, and when I did get to the opthamologist he decided to do a "culture". There I am in the chair, mostly blind, leeking yellow colored dye out of the corners of my eyes thinking, "Wait a minute, if I were going to do a culture of something I would...Oh, great googly-moogly is he seriously burning that wire so he can stick it in my eye?!?" Yep, and he did. Wasn't actually that bad.

No soft contracts ever again. No contacts period for 3 months. I've got a scar on my cornea that now will make it difficult for me to get laser surgery. Basically, I'm all but stuck with glasses (hard contacts are for the birds). But it turns out I was lucky, really. It could have been a lot worse.

 

[NEVERENOUGHWDW]

This just happened December 30th to me. DH & I were in NYC with out of town guests and I looked up and a drop of melting snow dropped into my eye from a rooftop. Ended up being a scratched cornea
I knew something was in it so I went into a restroom and tried to flush it out. That night it felt worse and by the next day I was in the ER, it felt like sand scratching my eye but I couldn't get it out.
The doctor put drops of color into my eye and saw the scratches. He numbed my eye and removed something that the naked eye couldn't see.
I was given antibiotic drops for 10 days.
Ironically our friends that were visiting ended up in the ER the next day he pulled a hoodie over his head and the zipper scratched his cornea.

Yeas ago I scratched my cornea & I was given the drops but also an eye patch for several days.

 

[bgirldeb]

I had This a few years ago. It was VERY painful! I went to a walk in clinic because I felt like something was in my eye. I was wearing contacts too long. The walk in clinic sent me to an opthalmologist right away. They said if they couldn't get me in right away I would have had to go to the ER. I was prescribed compound drops to take every hour or so and ointment and had to go to the dr every other day or so for a few weeks. It was a few years before I could wear contacts, and now I never sleep in them and change them out regularly. The eye doctors can still see the scar on my cornea when I go for eye exams. Very serious!

 

[RachelEllen]

Yep, I have a chronic abraision where my daughter took a finger nail swipe out of my eye.

Best advice I can give is to use whatever drops they give you. It's so easy to stop using drops when things feel better. But, especially if they just want her to use lubricating drops long term, keep using them! Whenever I would get lazy about it, it would come back.

The other thing that helped me was avoiding letting my eye get dried out, as that would reform the abrasion. When its bad, I have to be careful about blowing heat and air in the car. Plus, my doctor said to not sleep with a fan on, and that actually helps as well.

 

[dhcoffey]

Thanks, everyone. The dr she saw gave us some eye drops to use every hour until she sees the corneal specialist in the morning. The dr did say it was some kind of bacteria on her cornea and the specialist may want to do a culture. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Thanks again.

Heather

 

[golfgal]

My friend just had surgery for this about 2 weeks ago. She has had issues off and on over the past year or so. Her dr gave her a special kind of contact to wear that was supposed to stop the friction or something and help it heal. It worked some but not completely. The surgery helped tremendously.

 

[gator75]

I can also attest to how awful they can be. I had a corneal ulcer 9 years ago along with a nasty infection. took 3 weeks to heal. I was in so much pain and the light sensitivity was terrible. Even in the darkest of rooms i had to sit under a blanket. I had alot of drops and eye salves to put in. Infact the meds they used where so rare they had to special order them..

I have a scar on my eye luckily its not in my central line of vision.

 

[dngnb8]

Remember this, corneas are a regenerating organ. So care and treatment will mean full recovery

 

[Mommee]

Remember this, corneas are a regenerating organ. So care and treatment will mean full recovery

I was a teen when it happened, so maybe I misunderstood or didn't get the full story, but I have a small blind spot from a staph infection-they said it began eating away the cornea. I also to this day have a strange spot on my eye that is visible when it's irritated-it looks like a blood vessel is poking through the outside of the eye. While obviously that's not really what it is, it's what it looks like to me

I was originally diagnosed with pink eye-but it didn't get better and several days passed before I was sent to the specialist. I don't remember the appointment where I was diagnosed (and reading some of the previous responses, thank goodness!) but I do remember the eye drops and how painful they were. And thinking I was cool because I was on steroids

I also had some corneal abrasions in the other eye when a piece of metal flew into my eye and got embedded in the lid. Now THAT totally healed. I had to use some kind of gel stuff that made it impossible to see out of the eye.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I looked up and a drop of melting snow dropped into my eye from a rooftop. Ended up being a scratched cornea
I knew something was in it so I went into a restroom and tried to flush it out. That night it felt worse and by the next day I was in the ER, it felt like sand scratching my eye but I couldn't get it out.
The doctor put drops of color into my eye and saw the scratches. He numbed my eye and removed something that the naked eye couldn't see.
I was given antibiotic drops for 10 days.

Wow! So do you think something from the roof was in with the snowflake?

Mine happened in a lumberyard. After a gust of wind I had a searing pain in my eye. We tried to flush it out with water, but no luck. After going to a nearby walk in clinic that actually made it worse (said there was nothng there, put a bandage on it and told me to put pressure on it - WRONG thing to do!), I couldn't even see I was in so much pain. That night my PCP sent me to the Mass Eye and Ear ER where they inverted my eyelid and found a small sliver or wood imbedded in the eyelid and the cornea severely scratched. I still can't believe they told me to do that!

 

[bntlyclg89]

My friend just had surgery for this about 2 weeks ago. She has had issues off and on over the past year or so. Her dr gave her a special kind of contact to wear that was supposed to stop the friction or something and help it heal. It worked some but not completely. The surgery helped tremendously.

This happened to me. My erosion kept returning about every 3-4 months. I finally had laser surgery to correct it and have only had one since that time (over 10 years ago). The one I did have, I was able to treat with salve and drops (prescribed by the opthomologist).

Good luck! I know how horribly painful these are.

 

[dhcoffey]

Well, apparently it's some type of bacterial or viral infection that has been living under her contact lens probably for about a year. The thing we thought was an ulcer is apparently blood vessels growing trying to fight the infection, so the contacts have to be off for the foreseeable future and she'll wear her glasses. She's really happy about that with prom coming up but oh, well. We have three prescriptions to put on it until Monday when we have a follow- up appointment to see if it's hopefully become smaller or at least stayed the same. More info at that appointment, of course.

Thanks for all the comments!

Heather