Cornea Abrasion Corneal Abrasion I Have One Need Your Opinion Or Experience

[JUNIETAYLOR]

Hi! I'm here today because I need some love, support, and encouragement. Let me explain....
Until two weeks ago I had crystal clear 20/20 vision in both my eyes. Well, I may have had a slight astigmatism, but I could see clear and far...
On Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. my 3 year old son accidently poked me in the eye as I was positioning him in his car seat. We were headed out of town for a day trip.
About an hour and a half down the road I had to stop at a Wal-Mart to see the opthamologist. He stated the cornea was scractched in the middle with an upward motion. Which is exactly how my son's finger did as he poked in the center and went up as he continued to raise his hand. The opthamologist prescribed Tobradex, and away we went on our trip. I was miserable the entire day. My eye hurt and watered. I was dizzy and nausiated. It seemed like the right eye was trying to compensate for the injured left eye. Everything was blurry.
The next morning, I went immediately to a local opthamologist who confirmed my cornea had an abrasion. He prescribed Vigamox because he said I shouldn't use an antibiotic with a steroid. He also gave me Systane lubricating drops for the dryness durning the day. He also told me to use lacra lube at night. I was miserable for the next four days. I was still nausiated and dizzy from my eyes trying to adjust to eachother. The injured left eye remained blurry (like looking through a drop of water). Everything looked shadowed and distorted.
On Monday, May 19 I returned to his office and he stated the abrasion had healed but there was fuid behind the abrasion. This explaied the blurriness and the distortion I see throught my left eye. He also stated we need to be on the lookout for scar tissue.
Unsatisfied with his answer, I made and appointment Monday afternoon with a local eye surgeon. Good thing I did!!! I actually saw the opthamologist in his office who did a series of test and stated my eye healed "like a crinkled piece of Saran Wrap" and surgery may be required to smooth it out. He also saw the remaining fluid on the cornea. I told him how nausiated and dizzy I was and how tired and strained both of my eyes were. He prescribed Muro 128 drops at night and and Systane lubricating drops during the day.
The next morning I woke up and felt like I had a migrain. My head hurt. My eyes hurt and I had lost some of my lower (looking down) perfreal vision. When I tried to stand up I was dizzy and disoriented. I called the surgeons office again and they set an apointment up with the surgeon that day.
The surgeon looked in my eyes and confirmed the eye did have fluid but stated it had healed properly. He prescribed Muro 128 drops every couple of hours during the day Nevanac drops every couple of hours until the 1.5 ml bottle was gone and Muro 128 ointment at night. He also suggested a 2 hour nap during the day and atleast 8 hours of sleep at night.
It has been 14 days now since the injury. I've been following the doctors orders. My up close vision is better, but anything beyond 3 or 4 feet is still blurry. My eyes are tired and strained. I have a bad headache every day. I sometimes feel cross eyed. I still feel dizzy and nausiated at times--especially if I have to turn my head or look up real fast my eyes have a hard time adjusting and focusing.
My next appointment is on June 02, 2008 to discuss the healing, improvement (if any), and surgery if necessary.
Will you all please share your personal experiences and/or opinions with me. I have a few questions...
Will my "clear" vision return? If so, when?
Can Lasek surgery repair or correct the damage from the injury?
Should I get glasses to help me see?
I just want to see normal again...the way I did before the injury...do you all have any suggestions?

[liz56]

Hi, Junietaylor.

I'm so sorry to hear about the injury to your eye. It sounds like it was pretty bad. I have some questions for you, but it is not because your story is incomplete; it is because some of your story reminds me of mine.

When the doctors say that there is fluid in your eye, did they mention in what layer of the cornea it is?

Do you have any problems at night or when you wake in the morning?

The reason I ask is because your saying that your epithelium looked "like a crinkled piece of Saran Wrap," reminds me of when my epithelium was eroding after an initial abrasion, which means that fluid collects in between the epithelium and the basement membrane (the two uppermost layers of the cornea), and it can stick to the eye lid and tear and re-injure itself after sleeping. My first corneal specialist said that it looked "like rice paper." My problem is that while my epithelium can heal rapidly in a superficial way, real healing can take months. I was re-injuring the eye by not having it treated. Muro was the first step toward getting things back on track.

(I should note that I am not a typical injury case, however, because I have a dystrophy of the epithelial basement membrane, which makes healing more complicated for me.)

The Muro also made me wonder if you may be having recurrent corneal erosions. They are the process that I mentioned above-- the sticking eye lid after sleep and the re-injuring of the epithelial layer.

My guess is that if you stick with your doctor's plan and it works the way that it should, there is no reason to doubt that your vision should recover.

I hope that you find relief!

--Liz

[Mcgoldilocks]

Junietaylor, I'm sending you psychic waves of support, encouragement and understanding all the way from the UK. This is a truly horrible and disturbing affliction.

I suffer from recurrent corneal erosions, which are like abrasions. Can't offer any medical advice apart from to say there are LOTS of treatments available, it's just a matter of seeing a few specialist doctors and finding someone who really knows what they are talking about. It WILL get better. Have a look around this site for things you can do at home to relax the eyes, I particularly recommend Tranquileyes goggles, they create a semi-sealed moisture chamber for your eyes at night and completely shut out the light.

Good luck, keep us posted on how you are doing.

[calli66]

Hi Junie,

The dizzyness and disorientation might stem from the fact that you're seeing 20/20 with the good eye and much worse with the bad eye. You might try wearing a black eye patch (you can get them at any drugstore). That should help with the eye/vision/brain confusion.

Lasik is not the sort of treatment for this. What you have is an injury, and it will eventually heal, and your good vision will return. Corneal injuries are some of most painful known. The cornea has to be clear and smooth to pass light through and focus on your retina, and since yours has been damaged it can't do that properly. The light rays are getting bent and diffused, hence the blurry vision.

The cells are trying to attach and heal, but there are irregularities (and still much pain), but it sounds like your doctors are doing everything right. There's a vulnerable period right now---like others have said--where you might get an erosion (the healing layer of cells sticks to you lid---say when you first wake up and open your eyes).

My husband went through 2 of these corneal injuries years ago---they're excruciatingly painful. The cornea usually heals pretty quickly---so hang in there. Sounds like you're a healthy person, and you'll heal. You're under a doctor's care and that's good.

C

[Guest]

Junietaylor

I am a sufferer of Reccurent Corneal Erosions, mine as a result of laser eye surgery, your abrasion is a result of a once off injury but it is important to "nurse" it to reduce the risk of this recurring.

I can assure you that your vision should improve, you may just need to give it a bit of time.

At worst, my abrasions resulted in vision disturbance for a couple of weeks.

My surgeon explained that the abrasion lets moisture into lower layers of your cornea resulting in swelling and fluid resulting in visual changes.

Whilst I have absolutely no idea if this is in fact correct, it does sound logical to me and is supported by others posts.

I certainly wouldn't be looking for laser surgery or spectacle correction at this stage as it will most likely resolve itself with time.

I guess the best thing is to give it a few weeks, your opth may be able to provide you with a bandage lens to promote healing, it might be worth discussing this with them.

I would be using a good quality lubricant and overnight protection (gel, tranquil eyes, muro 128, Dwelle, just to name a few) to help promote the healing and reduce the risk of the abrasion recurring.

I wish you well and hope it will resolve sooner rather than later

Ian

[rubyslippers]

Can someone explain the difference between erosion and abrasion. I have had several corneal abrasions. I go to sleep fine and wake up with great pain, go right to the doctor and he says it is corneal abrasion.

[Guest]

Can someone explain the difference between erosion and abrasion. I have had several corneal abrasions. I go to sleep fine and wake up with great pain, go right to the doctor and he says it is corneal abrasion.

I am not entirely sure but this is my understandiing.

Corneal abrasion is the result from an injury to the surface of the eye.

Corneal erosion occurs when the epithelium adheres poorly to the underlying basement membrane.

To complicate issues, the NHS refers to a condition called Recurrent Corneal Abrasion, there is a good link here

http://www.goodhope.org.uk/Departmen...ntabrasion.htm

Ian

[liz56]

I am not entirely sure but this is my understandiing.

Corneal abrasion is the result from an injury to the surface of the eye.

Corneal erosion occurs when the epithelium adheres poorly to the underlying basement membrane.

To complicate issues, the NHS refers to a condition called Recurrent Corneal Abrasion, there is a good link here

http://www.goodhope.org.uk/Departmen...ntabrasion.htm

Ian

Ian,

That is a GREAT resource! Thanks so much for posting it!

I have some questions for you: How long did it take to get your erosions under control? You make it sound like you managed it so well.

Also, what is your current practice, if any, to maintain quality sleep sans erosions?

And, JunieTaylor, I agree with Ian. It is more likely than less that your vision will improve. After about six months of erosions, I had scarring on my cornea during my January 2007 check-up. My vision was distorted, but it was better than it had been when my erosions were at their worst, six months or so earlier. Since then, I have had only three minor erosions, and my vision appears to have improved. It's just a long, slow process for real healing to happen, I think.

--Liz

[Guest]

I have some questions for you: How long did it take to get your erosions under control? You make it sound like you managed it so well.

Also, what is your current practice, if any, to maintain quality sleep sans erosions?

Liz

I used to put in genteal gel and tape my eyes closed for about 4-6 months. At the same time I was taking Doxy.

I am certainly not cured but the erosions/abrasions I experience today are much less frequent (still unpredicable) than they once were.

These days they are less painful and after about an hour seem to come under control compared to several hours/days previously.

At the moment I alternate beween viscotears (PF) and Clinitas Ultra 3 every few weeks as I find they seem to lose their effectiveness. Not sure if this is real or perceived but Clinitas Ultra seems to dry my eyes more and are usually far redder when I wake up.

During the day I use very little but have just order Clinitas Soothe to try.

I wish you well

Ian