My 3 yo son got poked in the eye playing with another kid today. He cried for awhile and then went outside to play. I was pushing him in a swing and when he hopped off he brushed against a tall plant and then started up again that his eye hurt (same one from 30 min previous eye poke, the injuries abound with boys 
) He proceeded to scream for a half hour. I assumed he was overtired really, and gave him a wet towel and flushed his eye continuously with cold water. He insisted on keeping something cold on his eye. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept for almost 2 hours woke up screaming again. I got him an ice pack and he cried for an hour while I rocked him. He is distracted now by a freeze pop and Curious George (just the sound though, he has both eyes covered by the ice pack). It is bed time and he is calm, do you think its ok if we go to an eye doctor first thing in the morning or should we be heading straight to the hospital? I read that for eye scratches drs typically give antibiotic drops and let it heal. I also saw that sometimes for young kids the hospital will give a general anesthesia so they can examine the eye (yikes!!) I'm not familiar with eye injuries, anyone have any experience with this? I would really prefer not to go to the hospital tonight, but of course I will go if what I've described warrants it. Thanks!
) He proceeded to scream for a half hour. I assumed he was overtired really, and gave him a wet towel and flushed his eye continuously with cold water. He insisted on keeping something cold on his eye. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept for almost 2 hours woke up screaming again. I got him an ice pack and he cried for an hour while I rocked him. He is distracted now by a freeze pop and Curious George (just the sound though, he has both eyes covered by the ice pack). It is bed time and he is calm, do you think its ok if we go to an eye doctor first thing in the morning or should we be heading straight to the hospital? I read that for eye scratches drs typically give antibiotic drops and let it heal. I also saw that sometimes for young kids the hospital will give a general anesthesia so they can examine the eye (yikes!!) I'm not familiar with eye injuries, anyone have any experience with this? I would really prefer not to go to the hospital tonight, but of course I will go if what I've described warrants it. Thanks!
Corneal abrasions can get infected very quickly and you can get ulceration of the cornea, especially if there is still foreign matter in the scratch. He should not need a GA unless there is penetration of the eyeball (and it doesn't sound like there is from your post). Local anaesthetic drops will make an examination comfortable for him *if* he is able to co-operate. If he isn't then sedation may be needed but this would be much lighter than a GA and he would be able to go home as soon as he recovered, typically about an hour after administration.
but what a scare! I had never heard of anyone scratching their eye or how very painful it can be. "Scratch" sounds like such a superficial injury, and it really was from just an accidental eye poke. I had no idea.. I was thinking he was over reacting at first. It seems like getting poked in the eye is as common as stubbing your toe, scraping a knee, slamming a finger in a door etc..
It was hilarious! After the doctor removed his eye patch and did his thing he said we could leave the patch off. My son still covered his eyes from the sunlight on the ride home, and was still light sensitive the following day too. Two days after the incident he seemed back to normal.
