What do I do if I get something in my eye?

Eye injuries from DIY divide into four kinds and they need different responses, so the first thing to do is work out which one you have. The dangerous mistakes are rubbing, which grinds a particle across the cornea, and underestimating a high-velocity fragment, which can enter the eye with almost no sensation and cause serious damage if it is not found.

Safety

What you'll need

• Clean running water, or sterile saline
• An eyewash bottle or pods, in the first aid kit (optional)
• A clean pad or an eye shield, for covering (optional)
• The product packaging, for a chemical splash

Step by step

1. Stop what you are doing and do not rub.Rubbing drags a hard particle across the cornea and turns a foreign body into a scratch, which is far more painful and takes far longer to heal. Keep your hands away from the eye.
2. Work out which of the four situations you are in.Loose dust or grit; a chemical or liquid splash; something that arrived at speed from a power tool, a hammer or a chisel; or something you can see embedded. The responses are genuinely different and the last two are hospital cases.
3. For dust or grit, let it water first.Tears do a great deal of the work. Blink repeatedly and let the eye run for a minute rather than immediately poking at it. Pulling the upper lid down over the lower lid can sweep a particle from under the upper lid.
4. Then irrigate with clean water or saline.Hold the eye open and pour clean lukewarm water across it from the inner corner outwards, for several minutes, or use an eyewash bottle. Do not use anything other than water or sterile saline.
5. For any chemical, irrigate immediately and keep going.Start within seconds if you can — this is one of the few situations where the first minute genuinely determines the outcome. At least twenty minutes of continuous flushing, holding the lids open, water running from the inner corner outwards so it does not wash into the other eye. Get someone to ring for help while you continue.
6. Take the container with you.For any chemical splash, the product and its packaging tell the hospital what they are treating. Cement, plaster, lime, drain cleaner and oven cleaner are alkaline and are the worst category — they continue to damage the eye long after the splash.
7. For a high-speed fragment, do not touch it and go to A&E.A fragment from a grinder, a chisel struck with a hammer, a nail, or a hammer on hardened steel can penetrate the eye leaving a small entry wound and little pain. If you were hit by anything at speed and your eye is uncomfortable, watering or your vision is affected, it needs looking at even if you can see nothing.
8. Cover the eye loosely if something is embedded.A clean pad or a paper cup taped over the eye, resting on the bone around it rather than on the eye. No pressure at all. Cover the other eye too if you can, because both eyes move together and keeping them still reduces further damage.
9. Go for assessment if anything persists.Persistent pain, a feeling that something is still there, light sensitivity, blurred vision, redness that does not settle, or an eye that keeps watering after an hour all warrant being seen. A corneal abrasion is common, treatable and much better managed early.
10. Do not put anything in the eye afterwards.No drops, ointments or home remedies without advice. If a rust ring has formed from a metal fragment, it has to be removed properly, which is a five-minute job for a clinician and not something to attempt yourself.

Tips

• Keep sterile saline pods or an eyewash bottle in the first aid kit and in the garage. In the first minute of a chemical splash, having something to hand matters more than what it is — but running water works and is always available.
• Contact lens wearers should remove the lens if they can do so easily, and mention it at any assessment. Do not delay irrigation to take a lens out.
• Minor injuries units and many optometrists can assess and treat a foreign body or an abrasion, which is often quicker than A&E. Ring NHS 111 if you are not sure where to go.
• The way to not need any of this is a pair of impact-rated glasses within reach of wherever you work.

If it doesn't work

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