Eyes pain solution. Comprehensive Guide to Eye Pain Solutions: Causes, Types, and Treatments

14.07.198009.12.2021 by alexxlab

What are the causes of eye pain? What are the different types of eye discomforts? How can you treat eye pain effectively? Get answers to these questions and more in this detailed guide.

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Causes of Eye Pain: Locating the Source of Discomfort

Eye pain is a broad term used to describe discomfort in, on, behind, or around the eye. The pain can affect one eye (unilateral) or both eyes (bilateral). While the severity of eye pain does not necessarily indicate the seriousness of the underlying cause, it is crucial to understand the different sources of discomfort to find the appropriate treatment.

Pain on or in the Eye

Pain originating from the front surface of the eye or the inside of the eye is often caused by irritation or inflammation of the cornea. Common culprits include:

Corneal foreign body: Tiny particles, such as metal shavings, sand, or organic matter, can become embedded in the cornea, causing a foreign body sensation, discomfort, blurred vision, and sensitivity to light.
Corneal abrasion: A scratched cornea, which can range from mild to severe and may lead to a serious eye infection if left untreated.
Dry eyes: Insufficient tear production can cause gradual, uncomfortable eye discomfort, sometimes leading to a corneal abrasion.
Other less common causes: Conjunctivitis, eye infections, iritis, contact lens discomfort, and the rare condition of endophthalmitis (inflammation of the interior of the eye).

Pain Behind the Eye

Pain behind the eye, also known as retro-orbital pain, can have various causes, including:

Sinus infections or sinus headaches: Inflammation or congestion in the sinuses can put pressure on the optic nerve and cause a dull, aching pain behind the eye.
Migraines: The throbbing, pulsating pain associated with migraines can radiate to the area behind the eye.
Glaucoma: This condition, characterized by increased pressure within the eye, can cause a dull, aching pain behind the eye.
Optic neuritis: Inflammation of the optic nerve can result in a sharp, stabbing pain behind the eye, often accompanied by vision changes.
Cluster headaches: These severe, recurring headaches can cause a piercing, burning sensation behind the eye.

Pain Around the Eye

Pain experienced around the eye can have various causes, including:

Blepharitis: Inflammation of the eyelid, often caused by a bacterial or seborrheic skin condition, can lead to a gritty, burning sensation around the eye.
Stye: A painful, red bump on the eyelid, caused by a blocked oil gland or infected hair follicle.
Orbital cellulitis: A serious bacterial infection of the soft tissues surrounding the eye, which can cause severe swelling, redness, and pain.
Shingles: The herpes zoster virus can cause a painful rash around the eye, known as ophthalmic shingles.

Accompanying Symptoms and Their Significance

Eye pain can be accompanied by various symptoms, including blurred vision, redness, sensitivity to light, and a foreign body sensation. These symptoms can provide clues to the underlying cause of the discomfort and help your eye doctor determine the appropriate treatment.

Seeking Medical Attention for Eye Pain

It’s essential to seek prompt medical attention for any persistent or severe eye pain, as some underlying conditions can lead to serious complications if left untreated. Your eye doctor can perform a comprehensive examination, identify the cause of your discomfort, and recommend the most effective treatment plan.

Preventive Measures and Self-Care Strategies

While some eye pain may require professional medical intervention, there are also various preventive measures and self-care strategies that can help alleviate discomfort and support overall eye health. These include:

Practicing good eye hygiene, such as washing hands before touching the eyes and avoiding touching or rubbing the eyes
Taking breaks from prolonged screen time or visual tasks to reduce eye strain
Using over-the-counter lubricating eye drops to alleviate dry eye discomfort
Applying a cold compress to the affected eye to reduce inflammation and pain
Avoiding irritants or allergens that may trigger eye discomfort

Remember, while some eye pain may be manageable with home remedies, it’s always best to consult with an eye care professional to ensure proper diagnosis and treatment, especially for persistent or severe cases. By understanding the different causes of eye pain and seeking appropriate care, you can effectively address discomfort and maintain optimal eye health.

Eye pain causes and types of discomforts

Eye pain is a catch-all phrase to describe discomfort on, in, behind or around the eye.

The pain can be unilateral or bilateral — in other words, you can experience right eye pain, left eye pain, or the discomfort can affect both eyes. There’s no evidence that right eye pain occurs more frequently than left eye pain, or vice versa.

In some cases, such as an eye injury, the cause of the pain is obvious. But often it’s difficult to know why your eye hurts.

To complicate matters, the severity of eye pain does not indicate how serious the underlying cause of the discomfort is. In other words, a relatively minor problem, such as a superficial abrasion of the cornea, can be very painful. But several very serious eye conditions — including cataracts, macular degeneration, the most common type of glaucoma, a detached retina, and diabetic eye disease — cause no eye pain whatsoever.

FIND A DOCTOR: Ready to have your eyes checked? Find an eye doctor near you. >

A painful eye can produce various sensations and accompanying symptoms, which can help your eye doctor determine the cause of your discomfort and prescribe the correct eye pain treatment. These include:

A sharp, stabbing sensation
Burning eyes
A dull ache
Feeling something is “in” your eye (foreign body sensation)

Eye pain also is frequently accompanied by blurred vision, redness (bloodshot eyes) and sensitivity to light.

Causes of eye pain

Here are common causes of eye pain, based on the location of the discomfort.

Pain on or in your eye

Often, eye pain that feels like something is in the eye actually is caused by irritation or inflammation of the front surface of the eye, particularly the cornea.

Common causes of pain emanating from the front surface of the eye or inside the eye include:

Corneal foreign body. Not surprisingly, what often causes a foreign body sensation in the eye is an actual foreign body. Common foreign bodies that can adhere to and become embedded in the surface of the cornea include metal shavings, inorganic grit (sand, tiny stone particles), sawdust and other organic material.

The discomfort from a corneal foreign body can range from mild to severe, and typically it is most bothersome when you’re blinking (since the eyelid often is rubbing across it during blinks). Blurred vision and sensitivity to light also are common.

A corneal foreign body requires urgent attention from an eye doctor, because material embedded in the cornea can quickly cause a serious eye infection.

Most corneal foreign bodies can be removed easily in the doctor’s office with the proper tools. Antibacterail eye drops may be prescribed to prevent infection while the cornea heals.

Corneal abrasion. This is a scratched cornea. Although most corneal abrasions are not serious, they can be very uncomfortable and cause light sensitivity and watery eyes.

Many superficial corneal scratches heal on their own within 24 hours. But deeper abrasions can lead to a serious eye infection and even a corneal ulcer if left untreated.

Because it’s often impossible to tell if eye pain is due to a minor scratch, a deep abrasion or a corneal foreign body, it’s a good idea to see an eye doctor for any sharp discomfort of the eye that does not resolve very quickly, to determine the underlying cause.

Dry eyes. Another very common cause of eye discomfort is dry eyes. Usually dry eye discomfort begins more slowly and gradually than eye pain from a corneal foreign body or abrasion. Sometimes dry eyes can lead to a corneal abrasion, because there are not enough tears on the surface of the eye to keep the cornea moist and slippery.

If using lubricating eye drops significantly improves comfort, the cause of pain is probably dry eyes. In most cases, dry eye does not require urgent attention; but your eye doctor can perform tests to determine the severity of the dryness and recommend the most effective treatment.

Other (less common) causes of anterior eye pain, or pain “in” the eye, include:

Conjunctivitis (pink eye)
Eye infections (including fungal eye infections and Acanthamoeba keratitis)
Iritis (anterior uveitis), which is inflammation of the iris
Contact lens discomfort

A very serious cause of pain in the eye is a condition called endophthalmitis, which is inflammation of the interior of the eye that most often is caused by a bacterial infection. It also can occur as a rare complication of cataract surgery.

Endophthalmitis, in addition to causing eye pain, causes redness, swollen eyelids and decreased vision. If you have these symptoms after cataract surgery or other eye surgery, see your eye doctor immediately.

READ NEXT: Eye shingles: Causes, symptoms, treatments

Pain behind your eye

Common causes of pain behind the eyes are migraine headaches and sinus infections.

In the case of a migraine headache, the pain almost always is behind only one eye and often is accompanied by pain elsewhere on the same side of the head.

Pain behind the eye from a sinus infection usually is less severe than pain from a migraine, and both eyes may be affected.

Though pain behind the eyes from these causes typically is not an emergency, if you have chronic or recurring pain of this type, see your eye doctor or general physician for treatment and to see what can be done to prevent future episodes.

Pain around your eyes

Probably the most common pain around the eyes is inflammation within the eyelid, which is the common stye (also called hordeolum). The primary symptom of a stye is a localized, very tender area on one eyelid.

A stye does not require urgent attention from an eye doctor and usually can be successfully treated at home by applying warm compresses to the eyelid several times a day for a few days.

Blepharitis is another common (and usually not urgent) problem that can cause swollen eyelids and discomfort around the eyes.

Another common cause of pain around the eyes and eye muscle pain is overuse of the eyes when working at the computer. This is not an urgent problem, and there are simple steps you can take to relieve computer eye strain.

A much less common and much more serious cause of pain around the eyes is a condition called optic neuropathy, which can cause permanent vision loss. Accompanying symptoms are usually decreased visual acuity and reduced color vision, and the pain typically is worse with eye movements.

Eye pain that may be caused by optic neuropathy requires immediate attention by an ophthalmologist and a neurologist. Among people under 40, multiple sclerosis and other neurological conditions are the most common causes of optic neuritis.

My eye hurts! What’s the right eye pain treatment?

You should consider any eye pain an emergency. Almost always, the right eye pain treatment is to immediately schedule an eye exam with an eye doctor near you. Only an eye care professional can determine the exact cause of your eye pain and prescribe the correct treatment to prevent damage to the eye and possibly permanent vision loss.

In particular, see your eye doctor immediately if you have a painful eye and:

The pain occurred immediately after grinding metal, sawing wood, or other activities that might cause a foreign body injury (especially if you were not wearing safety glasses or protective eyewear).
The pain is due to an eye injury.
The pain is severe and is accompanied by blurred vision and/or sensitivity to light.
You have had recent eye surgery, including LASIK and cataract surgery.
You have redness and discharge from the eye.
The pain is severe, came on suddenly, and you have a history of glaucoma. This could signal an acute attack of a less common form of glaucoma called angle-closure glaucoma, which can cause rapid vision loss and is a medical emergency.

When it comes to eye pain, don’t take chances — see an eye doctor as soon as possible to determine the exact cause of the pain and receive the right eye pain treatment.

FIND A DOCTOR: Ready to have your eyes checked? Find a local eye doctor. >

Page published in March 2019

Page updated in March 2021

Eye Pain Specialist – Brookline, MA: Paddy Kalish, OD: Optometrist

What causes eye pain?

Pain in your eye can be an indication you have an injury or underlying condition that needs medical attention.

In addition to direct eye injuries, you might develop eye pain because of issues like:

Iritis

Iritis describes irritation and inflammation in the iris, the colored ring around your pupil. This condition can develop after an eye injury, because of an infection, or due to chronic medical conditions like an autoimmune disorder.

Scleritis

Scleritis describes inflammation in the sclera, the white part of the eye. Scleritis can develop due to injuries, infections, and allergies that irritate your eyes.

Corneal abrasion

A corneal abrasion is a superficial scratch on your cornea, the clear part of the front of your eye. Scratches occur when debris from the environment like dirt or dust gets into your eye.

Extreme dry eyes

Dry eye is a condition where you don’t make enough tears or produce low-quality tears that can’t properly moisturize your eyes. In extreme conditions, dry eyes can cause damage to your cornea and persistent pain.

Eye infections

Infections in the eye, including herpes and bacterial conjunctivitis, can also cause persistent eye irritation and pain. Infections can also affect the clarity of your vision.

How is eye pain diagnosed?

During your diagnostic evaluation for eye pain, Dr. Kalish takes time to discuss what you were doing when your eye pain started and where in your eye you feel pain.

Generally, pain occurs either on the surface of your eye or within the eye and might also interfere with your vision. Dr. Kalish uses on-site technologies to evaluate the outer and inner parts of your eye to identify infections, scratches, or other eye conditions.

It’s important that you don’t put off an appointment for eye pain. You should schedule an evaluation as soon as you notice your eye pain isn’t going away.

If you have signs of an eye emergency, such as sudden and severe eye pain, loss of vision, or have spilled chemicals in your eye, seek immediate medical care at a local hospital.

How is eye pain treated?

Your treatment plan for eye pain depends on what’s causing your condition. Dr. Kalish can flush your eyes with a saline solution to remove debris.

If you have an infection, you might need prescription antibiotics to treat it. Severe infections like iritis might also require corticosteroid medications to relieve pain and inflammation.

Certain medical conditions, including glaucoma, also require medications to relieve pain and other symptoms that affect your eye health and vision.

If you have eye pain, schedule a diagnostic evaluation today. You can call the office of Paddy Kalish, OD, or book an eye exam online.

Home Remedies To Treat Sore Eyes – 14 Methods + Prevention Tips

If your eyes feel gritty, tired, and tender, the chances are that you may be having sore eyes. The most common cause of sore eyes is conjunctivitis. Other causes include bacterial and viral infections or allergic reactions.

Bacterial conjunctivitis is characterized by sticky discharge, viral conjunctivitis causes red, painful eyes with watery discharge, and allergic conditions feel like a foreign body is there in the eyes. Viral conjunctivitis is self-limiting.

The most common medicines for sore eyes are antibiotic drops and ointments. But if you want to turn to natural remedies, we got it covered for you in this article. Remember, if the condition persists for more than a week, consult an eye specialist immediately.

Causes Of Sore Eyes

The causes of sore eyes are:

Sun exposure
Eye infections
Excessive eye rubbing
Exposure to airborne irritants
Contact lenses
Incorrect glasses
Viral infections such as cold
Overexposure to the TV or laptop screen
Dryness due to reduced blinking or dehydration

Symptoms Of Sore Eyes

The most obvious symptoms of sore eyes are :

Dryness of the eyes
Redness in the eyes
Irritability of the eyeballs or eyelids
Pain in the eyeballs
Watering of the eyes
Blurred vision

Many experience a dry, gritty feeling that makes them want to rub their eyes constantly. If you experience any of these symptoms along with red eyes, see a doctor immediately.

Discomfort, burning, eyelids stuck together, difficulty in opening your eyes after waking up, sore lymph glands, sore throat, and a runny nose are some other not-so-obvious symptoms that could be a sign of sore eyes.

The question is, is there a way to find relief from sore eyes? Yes, there is. Not just one, but many easy, natural methods to give your eyes some rest. Keep reading to know more about them.

Home Remedies For Sore Eyes

Cold Compress
Cucumber
Aloe Vera Gel
Castor Oil
Rose Water
Apple Cider Vinegar
Milk And Honey
Baking Soda
Potato
Coriander
Epsom Salt
Guava Leaves
Calamansi
Turmeric Eyewash

1. Cold Compress

The coldness of the ice pack will soothe the irritated and sore eye and reduce the burning sensation (1).

You Will Need

An ice pack

What You Have To Do

Place the ice pack on the sore eye for 4-5 minutes.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat 2-3 times in a day.

Use a frozen food item wrapped in a clean, soft cloth and place this over the sore eye.
Dip a washcloth in cold water and place it on the eye.
Place a metal spoon in the freezer for a couple of minutes and place this cold spoon on the affected eye.
Place a used tea bag in the refrigerator for a couple of minutes. Place the cold tea bag on the sore eye. You can use a green tea bag, black tea bag, chamomile tea bag, or even rooibos tea bag for sore eyes. An added benefit of using a tea bag is that the antioxidants present in it can accelerate the healing process. They also have anti-inflammatory properties that reduce the swelling often seen in sore eyes (2, 3).

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2. Cucumber

It is a known fact that cucumber has a cooling effect on our body (4). It has the same effect on our eyes as well. It soothes the eyes and heals any soreness or irritation. It can also help lighten dark circles and soothe puffy eyes.

You Will Need

2 cucumber slices
Cold water

What You Have To Do

Soak the slices in cold water for 2-3 minutes.
Place this on the eyes for 10 minutes.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat this as and when required to provide relief from the soreness.

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3. Aloe Vera Gel

Aloe vera has an extremely relaxing effect on your eyes because of its soothing properties. Eye drops containing aloe vera extracts can help treat inflammation in the eye (5). Aloe vera gel can also help manage dry eyes (6).

Caution: Use only fresh or organic aloe vera gel. Commercial variants may contain additives that can irritate your eyes.

You Will Need

1 teaspoon aloe vera gel
1-2 tablespoons cold water
2 cotton balls

What You Have To Do

Dilute fresh aloe gel with cold water.
Soak the cotton rounds in this and place them on the eyelids for 10 minutes.

How Often You Should Do This

Do this 2 times a day.

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4. Castor Oil

Castor oil is a common ingredient that is found in many eye drops. It has a soothing effect on your eyes and can help reduce eye irritation. Studies show that castor oil helps improve tear stability, prevents evaporation of tears, and has a lubricating effect on dry eyes (7). This may help ease the symptoms of sore eyes.

You Will Need

Organic and pure castor oil
A dropper

What You Have To Do

Using a clean dropper, administer a drop of castor oil to each eye.
Leave this in overnight.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat this every night and also once again during the day.

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5. Rose Water

Rose water is a well-known home remedy for relieving eye soreness and tiredness. A herbal eye drop preparation containing rose water extracts as one of the ingredients was found to improve ophthalmic disorders like conjunctivitis, dry eye, and cataracts (8).

You Will Need

What You Have To Do

Dip the cotton in the rose water and squeeze out the excess.
Place this on the closed eyelid and leave it on for 10-15 minutes.
Use chilled rose water for best results.

How Often You Should Do This

Do this 2-3 times in the day.

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6. Apple Cider Vinegar

This remedy can give instant relief from eye soreness caused due to infections. ACV has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties (9). These properties can help fight the infection-causing bacteria.

You Will Need

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons water
Cotton balls

What You Have To Do

Soak a clean cotton ball in a mixture of vinegar and water.
Place it on your eyelids for 10 minutes.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat this 1-2 times a day.

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7. Milk And Honey

Honey is known to possess antibacterial qualities and can treat dry eyes (10). The warmth of the milk will soothe the irritation and inflammation.

You Will Need

1 teaspoon warm milk
2-3 drops honey
A dropper

What You Have To Do

Mix the honey with the milk.
Pour a drop or two of this mixture into the affected eye with a clean dropper
Keep your eyes closed for a couple of minutes.
Rinse the eye with clean water later.

How Often You Should Do This

Do this 2 times a day.

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8. Baking Soda

This process helps in cleaning your eyes and flushing out any impurities that may have entered them. Baking soda is also an antiseptic that kills the infection-causing microbes present in and around the affected area (11).

You Will Need

1 teaspoon baking soda
Water
A cup or a glass

What You Have To Do

Take a cup or glass that can fit around your eye.
Add the baking soda to it and fill it with water.
Hold the eye over this water and try to keep it open for as long as possible. Try and roll your eyes around for a minute or two.
Rinse out the baking soda water remnants with plain, clean water.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat this once a day until the infection and soreness are cured.

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9. Potato

Potato helps reduce any sort of eye inflammation (12). You can also use potato peel to rub on the irritated skin, as it possesses anti-inflammatory properties (13). This will reduce the swelling and soothe the skin around the eyes.

You Will Need

What You Have To Do

Peel and grate the potato.
Squeeze out the juice and pour it over the cotton pad.
Place the soaked cotton pad on the affected eye for 15 minutes.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat once every day, preferably at night.

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10. Coriander

Coriander is commonly used in Ayurvedic medication for eye infections and soreness (14). A study showed that coriander seeds extract (10-15 drops of coriander spray) could help relieve itchy eyes (15).

You Will Need

A handful of coriander leaves
An eye dropper

What You Have To Do

Grind the coriander leaves to extract the juice out of them.
Now, take the eye dropper and suck in this liquid. Pour two drops each into both the eyes.

Although you can limit using this solution only for the infected eye, it is advisable that you pour the eye drops in the non-infected eye as well as a precautionary measure.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat this 2 times a day.

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11.

Epsom Salt

Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) has soothing and anti-inflammatory properties (16). This can help relieve inflammation and soothe your eyes.

You Will Need

1 teaspoon Epsom salt
1/2 cup hot water
Cotton rounds

What You Have To Do

Add the salt to the hot water and mix thoroughly until it dissolves.
Once the temperature becomes warm and bearable, soak the cotton round in this and place it over the eye.
Leave it on for 5-7 minutes. Rinse your eye (and face) with cool water.
Pat the skin dry and apply a mild moisturizer around the eye to prevent the skin from drying up due to the salt.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat this 1-2 times a day.

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12. Guava Leaves

This remedy can help treat sore eyes caused due to infections. Guava leaves possess antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic properties (17). They help reduce irritation, swelling, and pain around the eye.

You Will Need

4-5 guava leaves
A glass of water
A soft facecloth

What You Have To Do

Boil the guava leaves.
Dampen the facecloth and place the warm guava leaves in between to make a hot compress.
Place this on the infected eye for 10-12 minutes.

How Often You Should Do This

Repeat every day until the eye infection goes away.

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13. Calamansi

Calamansi (or calamondin) is a citrus fruit hybrid that is commonly known as the Philippine lime. Calamansi possesses antimicrobial properties (18). This can help clear the infection in the eye and reduce soreness.

Caution: The juice can sting due to its citric nature. This is completely normal.

You Will Need

1-2 drops calamansi juice
3-4 drops warm water

What You Have To Do

Dilute the calamansi juice with water and pour a drop or two into the affected eye.
Roll the eye a few times and then rinse the juice out with plain water.

How Often You Should Do This

Do this once a day.

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14. Turmeric

Turmeric contains curcumin that has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Studies showed that curcumin had beneficial effects on several eye diseases, like dry eye syndrome, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration (19).

You Will Need

1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 glass water
A dropper

What You Have To Do

Heat the water until it is warm and then add turmeric powder to it. Mix well.
Administer a drop of this mixture to the affected eye.

How Often You Should Do This

Use this remedy 2 times a day.

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Apart from using these sore eyes home remedies, the one thing you need to do to keep your eyes healthy is sleep well. When we sleep, our body gets rejuvenated, and we feel refreshed when we wake up. This also applies to the eyes. They are in constant use the entire time you are awake, and hence, giving them sufficient rest is important. Get 6-8 hours of sound sleep every day.

Let us now look into the causes of sore eyes.

Causes Of Sore Eyes

Viral infections, such as pink eye, also called conjunctivitis, are the major cause of sore eyes. However, they are not the only cause.

Sore eyes could also occur due to an eyelid infection, commonly known as cellulitis, or viral cold.

People with dry eyes are more prone to experiencing sore eyes due to dehydration.

Physical stress from staring at the TV or laptop screen for long and mental stress can also lead to sore eyes.

If the above remedies do not provide relief from sore eyes even after continued use, consult your healthcare provider to test for any serious underlying condition. Here are some alarming symptoms that require immediate medical help.

When To See Your Doctor

Contact your doctor immediately if you experience any of the following:

Pus coming out of your eyes
Sudden blurry vision
Seeing light or illusionary lights
Difficulty in moving the eyeballs

Some more tips are given below.

Prevention Methods And Tips For Sore Eyes

(a) Wearing Sunglasses And Goggles

When you step out of your house and into the sun, always remember to wear UV protection sunglasses. Also, if you happen to be a swimmer, make sure to wear goggles when you enter the pool to prevent the chlorine from affecting your eyes as chlorine tends to make your eyes itch and has also been known to make them red and puffy.

(b) Drink Lots Of Water

Your eyes need to be kept hydrated, and this can be easily done by drinking plenty of water. During the summer months, water helps in not only cooling your body but also energizing it. This also improves your immune system.

(c) Follow A Healthy Diet

Another important factor is a healthy diet. A wholesome, nutritious diet can keep you stress-free and your eyes healthy. Consume foods rich in vitamin A and vitamin C. These support eye health and enhance immunity, respectively.

A few vitamin A-rich foods are eggs, cod liver oil, broccoli, spinach, yellow fruits and vegetables like carrot, papaya, pumpkin, and mango.

Vitamin C-rich foods are citrus fruits like lemon, sweet lime, oranges, grapes, and kiwi and vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and capsicum.

(d) Do Eye Exercises

Do simple eye exercises every day to keep the muscles in and around your eyes strong. Exercising them also relieves strain.

(e) Don’t Give In To Stress

A large number of eye-related illnesses are caused due to mental stress. Lack of proper rest and sleep are the major factors behind the increased levels of stress. That is why you must give your body and mind a break. Sleep for at least 8 hours every day to keep stress at bay. Practicing yoga and meditation also helps.

(f) Relieve Physical Stress

We use our eyes every millisecond we are awake. While looking at normal surroundings is alright, when you continuously stare at a screen, like computers or TV screens, your eyes experience physical stress.

Give your eyes a break by looking elsewhere at a far-off point for a few minutes, now and then. If there is a tree or a shrub around, you could look at it too. The color green is said to soothe the eyes.

If you don’t find relief from sore eyes after using the above-mentioned home remedies, consult your healthcare provider immediately. Try out any one of them or a combination of them to relieve the symptoms of sore eyes.

Contact emergency medical help if you experience severe pain associated with foreign body lodgement, chemical injury, and burn injury. Some symptoms need immediate attention, like severe pain, photophobia, headaches, halos around light, high fever, and sudden vision changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do sore eyes last?

Sore eyes last for a couple of days after the initial symptoms appear, depending on the cause. The time taken for healing sore eyes also depends on the intensity of the infection.

Conjunctivitis could be bacterial, chlamydial, or viral, depending on which the period of healing is defined. Patients who are old or have low immunity, diabetes, and malnutrition could take up to 20–25 days to recover.

If proper medical care is taken and hygiene is maintained, sore eyes could heal much faster than the stipulated time.

Is a sore eye contagious?

Yes, sore eyes are contagious when the condition is caused due to an eye infection.

How can sore eyes be transmitted?

Sore eyes can be a result of an infection, such as conjunctivitis, that could be chlamydial, bacterial, or viral, which leads to either unilateral or bilateral red eye infection.

Sharing the same utensils, towels, and clothes and shaking hands with the infected person can make you contract the infection.

Also, having health issues like malnutrition or low immunity increases the chances of contracting the infection. The transmission also depends on the kind of infection one has.

Is a sore eye a sign of pregnancy?

Though a sore eye is not essentially a sign of pregnancy, many women experience dryness of eyes, vision problems, and irritable eyes all through pregnancy, which could result in sore eyes.

The cause of this is associated with the hormonal changes that occur in a woman’s body during pregnancy.

Contact lens discomfort can occur for a variety of reasons. In order for contact lenses to work the way they’re supposed to, it’s important to care for them properly, following the maintenance and replacement schedule recommended by your eye care professional. These guidelines help to keep your eyes healthy and comfortable in contact lenses. If they’re not followed, problems with vision, comfort and other safety issues can occur.

If the discomfort or problem stops, then look closely at the lens. If the lens is damaged in any way, do not put the lens back on your eye. Place the lens in the storage case and contact your eye care professional. If the lens has dirt, an eyelash, or other foreign body on it, or the problem stops and the lens appears undamaged, you should thoroughly clean, rinse, and disinfect the lenses; then reinsert them. After reinsertion, if the problem continues, you should immediately remove the lenses and consult your eye care professional.

Irritation in your eyes may not come from your contact lenses at all. If your eyes become red, swollen, or if you experience discharge, you should contact an eye care professional immediately. Your symptoms may be a result of infection, or underlying disease and should be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. You should not wear contact lenses if you have an eye infection or while using certain topical eye medications.

In patients with painful, blind, glaucomatous eyes (PBGEs), perhaps the most important outcome measure is whether or not treatment renders the affected eye comfortable. Injections are frequently employed for this purpose. Gabapentin is an antiepileptic that has also the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for use in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia [1], a type of neuropathic pain (NP) [2]. Its mechanism of analgesic action is not known yet, but the drug is structurally related to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) [1]. Because PBGEs may be conceptualized as a form of NP, gabapentin, a medication effective in NP, was trialed in a patient who was fearful of more injection therapy.

A 78-year-old male patient with a PBGE was referred to our pain clinic by the ophthalmology department with a diagnosis of painful neovascular glaucoma. The patient complained of significant ocular discomfort of his left eye that he described as a “burning inflated ball.” His visual acuity was worse than hand movements at 1 m and intraocular pressure was 42 mm Hg. He had undergone two cyclodestructive laser sessions with no significant pain relief. The patient asked for oral medication (“painkillers”) and was unwilling to have any treatment that was more invasive. He was receiving oral acetazolamide (250 mg every 8 hours) and was being treated with topical antiglaucomatous drugs (timolol maleate 0.5% eye drops solution, pilocarpine 2% eye drops solution) and an analgesic combination drug, paracetamol (4 g per day)–codeine (240 mg per day) that provided little pain relief.

Although we offered the patient the option of retrobulbar phenol injections [3], the patient refused any invasive treatment. We then proposed oral gabapentin therapy, explaining approved uses and possible adverse effects. We clarified that gabapentin has not been described in the international medical literature nor approved for use in glaucoma pain (even for blind, painful glaucomatous eyes), that as far as we knew, he would be the first to try it on an experimental basis, and that there was no guarantee that the treatment would ameliorate his pain. The patient agreed to a trial of gabapentin and informed consent was obtained.

The patient was started on 300 mg gabapentin, after 1 week increased to 900 mg, and was followed-up very 2 weeks thereafter for 6 months. At each visit, if the patient was not comfortable with his pain control, 300 mg of gabapentin was added until the patient was comfortable or up to a total daily dose of 2,400 mg. The clinical team agreed that if the patient was not comfortable with his pain control even at a total daily dose of 2,400 mg for two consecutive follow-up visits, we would conclude that gabapentin treatment had failed and that there would be a period of progressive gabapentin dose reduction until its total elimination.

On the day of gabapentin treatment beginning, the patient graded his pain as “severe” with a pain score of 8 as assessed by visual analog scale. The patient began experiencing some pain relief at 900 mg per day, and as the dose was titrated progressively to 2,400 mg per day, after 2 weeks on this dose the patient rated his pain as “none most of the time, mild sometimes,” with pain scores “2–3 when there is pain” as assessed by the numerical rating scale. The same ratings were reported by the patient at the final follow-up visit 6 months later, when intraocular pressure was 45 mm Hg and the antiglaucomatous treatment was unchanged.

Glaucoma can be conceptualized as an optic neuropathy associated with characteristic structural damage to the optic nerve and associated visual dysfunction [10]. We hypothesized that, at least part of the pain from PBGE might be explained by optic neuropathy and optic nerve structural damage causing neuropathic pain [2] that might be relieved by gabapentin, an antiepileptic drug used for the relief of neuropathic pain [2]. Our patient’s response supports this hypothesis and suggests further studies of patients with painful, blind glaucomatous eyes, and the potential use of antiepileptics in painful, seeing glaucomatous eyes in conjunction with standard antiglaucomatous treatment. From our computerized search of the international literature we are unaware of previous reports conceptualizing the pain of blind, glaucomatous eyes as neuropathic or using antiepileptic drugs for painful, blind, glaucomatous eyes.

You do not need to call an ambulance unless:
You cannot travel safely either by driving yourself or by having someone else drive you.
You are in an area where heavy traffic or other problems may slow you down.

All eye care providers know dry eye signs and symptoms do not correlate.¹ Patients reporting dryness, burning, itching, fluctuating vision and even redness could be diagnosed with any number of conditions, including allergic conjunctivitis; blepharitis; eye misalignment issues such as convergence insufficiency and vertical imbalance; epithelial basement membrane dystrophy; giant papillary conjunctivitis; conjunctivochalasis; and conjunctival concretions, to name only a few. Fortunately, point-of-care tests such as osmolarity and inflammatory markers may help you make the differential diagnosis.²

However, there are also patients that truly have dry eye disease (DED) but lack significant symptoms (e.g., neurotrophic dry eye), while others may have a subtype of DED such as neuropathic ocular disease where symptoms are disproportionately advanced compared to signs.³ Making things even more confusing is the fact that many patients have clear physical signs of DED, including meibomian gland dysfunction, but are still asymptomatic.⁴ To help solve this confusion, let’s look at neuropathic ocular pain to better understand these phenomena.

In general, there are two types of pain associated with most conditions such as DED. Nociceptive pain is the pain we generally think of, commonly stemming from trauma, insult or the potential of insult to a specific location. Neuropathic pain, however, occurs due to a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system.⁵ Neuropathic pain is a complex, chronic pain state that usually is accompanied by tissue damage; yet, sometimes it is simply dysfunction of the physiological nervous system.⁶

With neuropathic pain, the nerve fibers themselves are often damaged, altered or injured, and the tissue, in this case the ocular surface, itself is not affected.⁷ These nerves may become damaged as a result of hypersensitization of the corneal or conjunctival somatosensory nerves and can send incorrect signals to other pain centers within the body, such as the peripheral and central trigeminal sensory network.⁸

Patients with corneal staining are already in the late stage of DED. You must catch it earlier with new diagnostic tools to avoid neuropathic pain.

Although pain management specialists are familiar with managing pain without obvious signs, most optometrists are not. We want to be able to see improvement in signs and symptoms. Chronic stress such as lid wiper, hyperosmolarity, surgical procedures or inflammation can result in hypersensitization and eventual neuropathic pain, possibly explaining the significant variances that exist in symptoms among patients with various levels of DED.⁹

The more DED we manage, the more cases we’ll see of patients who, despite mild signs, are in such severe pain they cannot function (and patients with severe signs who have little to no symptoms at all). Some have referred to the neuropathic condition as “pain without stain,” which helps understand the disassociation between signs and symptoms for this type of DED.⁹ Furthermore, neuropathic pain may explain why patients with dry eye and reduced corneal sensitivity have significant dry eye symptoms.¹⁰ This form of dry eye disease requires astute clinical judgment to make the diagnosis since demonstrable signs are not readily visible.

Ocular neuropathic pain is a likely symptom because of the presence of significant corneal nerves, and the unique location of the corneal nerve endings between the superficial epithelial cell and near the ocular surface make them vulnerable to repeated damage from environmental exposure and hyperosmolarity.¹¹ Research involving a mouse model shows the primary afferent nerves became sensitized on exposure to hyperosmolar and inflammatory solutions.¹²

Diagnosis involves significant clinical judgment and a good understanding of the disease course. By definition, patients with neuropathic pain will often experience hyperalgesia or exaggerated pain, spontaneous pain, allodynia (a pain response to normal stimuli such as light or mild air flow) and dysethesias (abnormal sensations). Patients with chronic pain such as neuropathic pain also tend to have higher levels of anxiety, depression and sleep disorders.^13,14

Although advanced testing such as confocal microscopy potentially can show a damaged sub-basal nerve plexus, most of us do not have access to such technology.¹⁵ The primary method of diagnosis is secondary to symptoms that do not resolve with typical DED treatments. A more specific and effective way to make the diagnosis of neuropathic dry eye is to instill topical anesthetic in the eye. Patients with neuropathic pain will typically mention little to no resolution of their symptoms.^5,16

Unfortunately, these patients rarely respond well to local treatments. Still, we should treat the inflammation possibly contributing to their dry eye, as there may be benefit over time and with long-term use. Furthermore, local treatment may remove the stress and continuous stimuli causing the pain response. However, more standard treatments such as artificial tears do not provide patient-reported pain resolution in most cases.¹³ Therefore, consider using options with anti-inflammatory properties, including corticosteroids, Restasis (cyclosporine ophthalmic emulsion, Allergan), Xiidra (lifitegrast, Shire) and oral doxycycline, to name a few. Autologous serum, which includes nerve growth factor among its contents, may affect corneal nerve function.¹⁷

Treating the ocular surface is essential to minimizing further insult or removing stimuli that is exaggerating pain. Other treatments include those targeting the neuropathic pain centers and descending pathways, such as tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) and gabapentinoids.¹⁸ However, tricyclic antidepressants and SNRIs may exacerbate ocular surface issues, given their strong anticholinergic activity and potential ocular drying effects. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are another topical option that may affect the nerves because of their ability to decrease peripheral sensitization.^18,19 Thus, treatment with gabapentinoids and topical NSAIDs may affect more nerve pathways than using one alone. Research also shows protecting the ocular surface from environmental stimuli may benefit patients with neuropathic pain, and scleral lenses may help those with neuralgia-type pain.²⁰

However, as with any condition, prevention is the best treatment, and preventing neuropathic pain requires early diagnosis of DED. In the early stages, DED patients typically have persistent stimuli such as hyperosmolarity and inflammation. Eventually, the pain—now neuropathic—remains even after the initiating insult is removed or treated.²¹ In the case of lid wiper epitheliopathy, for example, longstanding trauma could eventually result in neuropathic pain and, even if the lid wiper is then treated, the neuropathic pain will persist.⁵

To ensure earlier diagnosis, we must use better diagnostic testing. Research shows NaFl corneal staining is a late disease indicator similar to a visual field defect in a patient with glaucoma.²² Early disease diagnosis, however, requires uncovering early disease indicators, and newer technologies such as meibography, non-invasive break-up time and osmolarity testing—perhaps the most sensitive test to early DED—can help identify the beginning structural changes.²²

Low viscosity preparations, for example, View-Komod. Solution “View-chest of drawers” serves to eliminate “dryness” of the eyes, as well as to get rid of the burning sensation and the presence of a foreign body. A uniform pre-corneal tear film that forms when the solution is applied reliably protects the eyes from irritation. This film persists for a long time and does not reduce visual acuity.

If a foreign body gets into the eye on the street and it is not possible to rinse the eye, wait a few minutes until severe lachrymation begins. If a smooth speck or insect that does not injure the cornea gets in, gently rub the eye towards the nose, and the foreign body will come out along with the tears. If this does not happen, pull the eyelashes of the upper eyelid, bending it up; the lower eyelid is bent even easier – it is enough just to pull it down. Carefully remove the speck with a slightly damp clean handkerchief folded in a corner, and if it is missing, ask the speck to just lick it off.Look down during this procedure.

The first sign of the disease is the sensation of a speck in the eye. The conjunctiva turns red, pains, lacrimation, sticky discharge appear, the eye itches.Conjunctivitis is contagious! Do not rub your healthy eye with dirty hands, do not use shared towels, bed linen, dishes. In principle, conjunctivitis, like a cold, will go away without treatment in a week, but this period can be shortened by using solutions of zinc albucide or zinc sulfate sold in pharmacies.

When microorganisms enter the hair follicle of the eyelash, inflammation of the eyelid, or barley, occurs. Barley can be repeated. It is provoked by hypothermia, colds, a general weakening of the body as a result of overwork or illness. Barley can be done away with once and for all in a very simple way. Take inflorescences of common tansy, in winter you can buy it at the pharmacy.Take as tablets 4-6 “buttons” 4-5 times a day until the inflammation disappears.

With a little bleeding, it is enough to tilt your head back slightly and sit quietly. If bleeding continues, do not throw your head back strongly or lie down.Try blowing your nose out of a bleeding nostril and press down firmly on the wings of the nose. Tilt your head slightly forward, put a cold compress or ice on the bridge of the nose. If bleeding continues, soak a gauze pad with hydrogen peroxide and insert it into your nostril. A good means of quickly stopping bleeding are also tampons moistened with a concentrated infusion of yarrow herb. Infusions of knotweed, St. John’s wort, bergenia help stop bleeding.

If you have selected the products yourself, it is very likely that unpleasant sensations may arise. The model may simply not suit you according to various parameters: base curvature, degree of refraction, wearing mode. Be sure to visit a doctor in an ophthalmological center or an optics salon with the selection of lenses. Only he can diagnose and write a prescription taking into account all the initial data.By the way, a prescription for glasses will not work in this case.

Models that are used for several weeks or months require compulsory care. It is necessary to clean and disinfect with a special solution and store in a container intended for this. Only in this way, if you do not want to get sick and worry about stinging your eyes after the lenses! Do not rinse with water, can not be stored where necessary.The container and solution must be renewed regularly. You can read in detail and succinctly about the rules of care in our article here.

In this case, the tingling may again not be due to the lenses.And this time with an eye pathology. Dry eye syndrome is a difficulty in producing tear fluid. It is characteristic for the most part of office workers and everyone who spends a lot of time in front of a computer or smartphone screen. Lenses can already dry out the cornea, and if the production of tear fluid is problematic, this can be the reason why the eyes sting after the lenses.

OCUflash® is a special eye solution (isotonic buffered saline), which contains eyebright tincture as an excipient. The drug is intended for instillation into the eyes or for rinsing the eyes. It has an anti-inflammatory and astringent effect on the eye.
OCUflash® is ideal for rinsing the eyes to flush foreign bodies out of the eye. Without consulting an ophthalmologist, the product can be used for a short period of time for rinsing the eyes, instilling in the eyes or for preparing compresses for the eyelids.The drug is used in cases when there is a feeling of discomfort in the eye, for example, burning, itching, or the feeling that a foreign body has got into the eye.

OCUflash® does not affect the ability to concentrate when driving vehicles, when servicing machinery and when working at height when increased vigilance is required. However, sometimes after instillation of the drug into the sac of the conjunctiva, blurred vision may occur, therefore actions in which an increased level of vigilance is required can be performed only after this passing action has ceased.

Once opened, OCUflash® is ready for external use. The patient twists the protective cap, throws his head back slightly, turns the bottle over, and, squeezing it, drips the required number of drops into the lower conjunctival sac. The amount of solution depends on the type of use. Drip the solution or rinse the damaged eye as needed (the amount of solution that flows out is controlled by squeezing the bottle).In case of inflammation of the eyelid, the solution can also be used to make compresses. When burying an eye, do not touch the eye, eyelid or eyelashes. After the procedure, it is necessary to tighten the cap tightly in order to avoid possible contamination. The bottle should be stored upright.

1 ml šķīduma satur 7 mg Natrii chloridum (nātrija hlorīda).
Palīgvielas: 1 ml šķīduma ir 0.04 mg Benzalkonii chloridum (benzalkonija hlorīda) (0.004%), Dinatrii edetas dihydricus (dinātrija edetāta dihidrāts), Kalii chloridum (kālija hlorīrīds), Magnesa hloridum magnesia hloridum (magnesa hloridum) 80), Tinctura euphrasiae (ārstniecības žibulīša tinktūra), Natrii tetraboras (nātrija tetraborāts), Natrii hydroxidum (nātrija hidroksīds), Aqua ad injectabilia (ūdens injekcijām

This creates the feeling that with each movement your brain moves freely and hits the skull. This is how many people describe headache symptoms. Millions of people around the world (women, men and children) regularly suffer from soreness, pressure or sharp stabbing pains that affect their concentration at work, at school and when spending time with their family.Solving this problem will improve the quality of life. This is often much easier than most people think, since headaches are often caused by visual impairment.

In particular, farsightedness (hyperopia) can tire the eyes, leading to headaches, if the problem is not resolved. It often occurs after reading or working at the computer for a long time. This is why farsighted people find it especially difficult to focus on still images.When trying to see the image clearly, the lens has to adapt (accommodate). The biggest problem is that many people with farsightedness are unaware of this because their eyes have been able to adapt for some time. Constant efforts to see better lead to headaches, which are often later not associated with eye problems.

A huge number of people use eye drops for various reasons.It is difficult to meet a person who has never used these medicines to relieve fatigue after working at a computer or get rid of burning and redness caused by an allergic reaction. Moreover, ophthalmologists prescribe them not only to those patients who regularly wear glasses or contact lenses. Eye drops are used in modern ophthalmology for various purposes. Some specialists prescribe them to their patients for the prevention or treatment of a wide variety of corneal pathologies, others – to relieve discomfort during the daily use of optical products.However, this is not a complete list of reasons why the attending physician can recommend certain eye drops to his patient. In terms of their composition, these funds can differ significantly from each other, including a different number of components. This is especially true for pain relieving eye drops. Despite this, many patients believe that it is not at all necessary to consult an ophthalmologist to use them, and you can buy absolutely any of them at the nearest pharmacy.However, it is not. Prolonged use of anesthetic eye drops can lead to such unfortunate consequences as, for example, damage to the cornea of the eye. By the way, some patients seriously begin to “get carried away” with the use of these drugs, namely, to use them much more often than indicated in the instructions. Such uncontrolled operation can lead to a decrease in visual acuity and even its complete loss. Unfortunately, such examples are also available in modern ophthalmology.

Anesthetic drops are included in the category of medicines, and therefore must be prescribed strictly by an ophthalmologist and only after the necessary examination. If you have not previously visited your doctor, then we strongly do not recommend that you use these funds. This is largely due to the fact that anesthetic eye drops can only cope with pronounced pain symptoms, but they cannot eliminate this or that disease that is their cause.And many patients, just the same, believe that with the help of drops they will be able to cure one or another ophthalmic disease. As experienced optometrists explain, the action of these drugs is based on the ability to block pain impulses, thereby suppressing the unpleasant sensations that arise in connection with a certain ophthalmic pathology. Simply put, it is no coincidence that pain relieving eye drops have received such a name. They do not allow the disease to be healed or the patient from injury.Their task is only to relieve the accompanying symptoms.

Regularly ophthalmic manufacturing companies release new drugs, and therefore the list of such drops is constantly replenished, and therefore we simply cannot list all those available at the moment.We cited as an example only the most popular of them, which have long proved their high efficiency and received a huge number of positive reviews from both doctors and patients. If you use eye drops with anesthetic effect, the pain begins to subside after just a couple of minutes. In ophthalmology, they are used by specialists in the following cases:

Pain-relieving eye drops after injury should only be used under the supervision of a physician. The most common causes of eye injury are the ingress of various foreign bodies, chemical or mechanical substances.It is important to understand that it is categorically impossible to choose the means of treatment for yourself based on the experience of friends or acquaintances. Only a qualified professional can prescribe the correct pain relieving eye drops for you in case of injury. In addition, it is important to take into account that not all existing drops for eye injury are equally useful. It is of great importance what exactly caused this condition. For example, when foreign bodies get into the eyes, ophthalmologists often prescribe Albucid or Furacilin to their patients.Eye drops in case of an eye injury received by a mechanical or chemical method will be completely different.
Experts strongly recommend not to use anesthetic drops for eye injury on your own without first consulting a doctor. This is especially true for those situations when the cause of the pain is not fully identified and additional examination may be required. The uncontrolled use of anesthetic anesthetic drops in case of eye injury can lead to very negative consequences for the cornea, provoking serious and, most importantly, irreversible damage.

The second category is non-steroidal eye drops designed to provide both anesthetic and anti-inflammatory effect. The principle of their action is significantly different from that which is characteristic of the previously presented anesthetics. It consists in reducing the synthesis of substances that provoke pain and cause inflammation in the visual organs. The most popular non-steroidal anesthetic drops are:

Unlike the anesthetics we described earlier in this article, non-steroidal anesthetic drops do not give a quick effect. In order for them to take effect, the patient needs to wait a while, usually about 15-30 minutes. In this matter, it all depends on the individual characteristics of your body. As you understand, the effect of the use of non-steroidal drops is observed a little later. Ophthalmologists prescribe their use in the following situations:

Non-steroidal eye drops can cause short-term blurred vision or spots in front of the eyes. You should not be afraid of this, such a reaction is absolutely normal. It is enough to blink a few times and the effect that has arisen after use will stop. Remember that the independent use of non-steroidal drops is strictly prohibited. It is important to understand that being a drug, they have certain contraindications for use.So, for example, the use of non-steroidal anesthetic drops is highly discouraged in cases where the patient complains of increased sensitivity of the eyes. In addition, the use of these drugs is prohibited for peptic ulcer and other pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as during pregnancy and lactation.

IMPORTANT! If quicklime powder gets into the eye, DO NOT rinse the eyes until the crystals are completely removed from the surface of the eyelids and the eyeball (when interacting with water, lime begins to generate heat and the burn can only intensify). In this case, try to completely remove the crystals with a dry, clean cloth, and then thoroughly rinse the damaged tissues with running water and contact a specialized emergency room