This year my son had a freak accident that caused a very serious blunt eye trauma. His retina had to be lasered back on and he sustained damage to the back of his eye. He was very lucky that he saw so many people so quickly, as it may be the reason he has some vision in his eye now. I took him immediately to the ER when I saw how quickly his eye had blackened (less than 10 min) and he had a severe concussion. They moved him quickly to the children’s hospital and brought in an eye specialist.
It was a very stressful month filled with a ton of doctor visits, and he’s still healing and hoping to regain more vision (this can take 3-4 months until the extent of damage is known)
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What To Do When You’ve Sustained a Severe Eye Injury:
- Sleep sitting up. One of his paramedics suggested this. Sleeping upright allows the eye to drain instead of pool up.
- Do not sleep on the side of the injured eye. I slept beside him for the first little while to ensure every time he rolled towards me I could bop him back over. Later he found it easier to sleep on the couch as he was still upright and wouldn’t roll to his left side.
- Stay hydrated! Your body is healing, so keep it hydrated to help the healing process.
- Eat healthily. Even though there’s no magical food or drink you can ingest to help, your body is still healing and needs all the vitamins and nutrients it can get.
- Wear an eye protector when you sleep to ensure you don’t bump it. The hospital provide us with one that I had to tape onto his face. Super annoying as we had to remove it and put it back on multiple times during the night to put his drops in.
- SLEEP!!!!
- Go to all of your appointments. There will be a lot!
- Take your meds. At one point he was taking 4 different eye drops multiple times a day. Eye drops shouldn’t be taken at the same time as each other. If the times line up that you have 2 for 6 pm, take 1 at 6 pm and the other at 6:15 pm. Allow time for the drops to absorb solo. Also, set alarms for when the drops need to be taken and name the alarms! Mine was named “pink lid drop”, “red lid drop”, “blue lid drop” and “weird funky white bottle drop”. Whatever helps you keep them straight is best. Also, make sure the drops are consistent. If it’s 4 times a day take them 6 hours apart, 3 times a day 8 hours apart, etc. Consistency is key!
What Not To Do When You’ve Sustained a Severe Eye Injury
- No Sports until the doctor tells you it’s okay (super fun telling a teen boy he can’t play sports for a while)
- No weight lifting until the doctor tells you it’s okay (any strain you do can affect your eye)
- No Gym Class until the doctor tells you it’s okay
- No manual work until the doctor tells you it’s okay
- No electronic devices for the first little while. The light can affect your eye
- No reading for the first little while as this can strain your eye
Must-Haves To Make Your Eye Injury Recovery More Comfortable:
- Pillows! Tons of pillows to keep you propped up! We have a chair-looking pillow (that looks like this) he loved to sleep on as it kept him propped up nicely
- Tray for meals in bed
- Eye patch. We ended up getting him an eye patch as once the doctors said he could have electronic devices again, he found the brightness hurt his eye.
- Safety Glasses and Sun Glasses. Anytime he went outside he had to have some sort of glasses on. I didn’t want any debris like dirt or pollen to get in his eye.
- Tape to tape the eye protector on their face. I HIGHLY recommend this one as it held strong but didn’t hurt when being removed.
Future Purchases You’ll Probably Be Making After an Eye Injury:
- Shatter proof glasses
- Sports goggles
- Prescription sunglasses
Until the accident, he only wore his glasses when he needed them to see distance. Going forward he will need to wear his glasses at all times as he needs to protect his good eye from potential damage.
Side note: One of the main drops they give in the beginning is a drop to dilate the eye. Do not be scared when you realize the pupil is still dilated. It will be for the duration of taking this drop and can take up to 3 weeks after the drop is stopped, to return to normal size. This is very important for the eye to heal after blunt trauma.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nurse, or medical professional of any type. These are the very simple thoughts and ideas that I formed while helping my son recover from his eye trauma. Please do not take this as medical advice, and if you have concerns please contact a medical professional immediately.
If you’re looking for ideas for a care package, I strongly suggest you click here for my best tips on what to include in a care package.
If you have any tips and tricks for eye injury blunt trauma, I would love to hear about them in the comments section!
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