Workplace injuries don't just involve cuts, scratches, scrapes and bruises. One of our patients had a painful experience recently, which he won't soon forget. While he was doing demolition work, a board hit him directly in the eye, unfortunately he was not wearing proper safety glasses. Instead of seeing an eye doctor right away, he waited and the injury got worse. One of our doctors explains:
The board compressed his left eye and he waited 3 days to see if it would get better and it did, but only a little bit. We saw him today and found a piece of wood embedded in his cornea. We were able to remove some of the wood to reduce his pain but it penetrated about half way through his cornea therefore he required immediate surgery. The surgery went well and a special plug had to be inserted into his cornea to prevent it from leaking. He is now doing fine.
If you work in any type of industrial situation, using proper safety glasses to protect your eyes is highly recommended. At Lakeside Vision, we have a selection of safety glasses in stock. You can also check out a large selection of safety glasses online at Safety Glasses USA.
Finally, anytime you experience any type of eye injury, don't wait to see if the problem will clear up on its own, see your eye care professional immediately to avoid any long term damage. As the old saying goes, "it's better to be safe, than sorry!"
Here are some photos of the patient's eye, with the arrow indicating the wood lodged inside:
