DS (2) got poked in the eye with a pencil this afternoon. He won't stop rubbing it. Upon inspection I can see that it is scratched right over the color of the eye. His eye is red and watery.
Is there anything they can do for him? Should I take him to the eye doctor tomorrow? Is there anything I can do to help it feel better? This doesn't require emergency care does it? When I take him in tomorrow should I take him to the eye doctor or to the regular doctor?
This is our first eye injury. The scratch across his eyeball is pretty big.
Any and all advice would be appreciated....thanks!

By Vicki on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:22 pm:

Wow, just because it is the eye, I think I would call the Dr tonight and see what he/she recommends. I wouldn't say that a trip to the ER would be out of line! Of course, I tend to over react to things, but I always think better safe than sorry. Can he see out of the eye? Did you have him cover the other tell you what your holding or anything like that?

By Marg on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:33 pm:

I'm afraid of anything to do with the eye! I'd call er and see what they say. I would think they would send you to the eye dr.

Remember Jackie and the birthday hat, she might know more!

praying for him...

By Mommyathome on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:33 pm:

Vicki....I tend to overreact too
There are no doctors we can call after hours. We would have to go to the ER.
He just turned 2, so he can't really explain what's going on with his eye. He just says "eye hurts" and "pencil". Maybe I'll take him in.....AHHHH kids! I never know what to do! If I couldn't physically see the scratch I wouldn't be so worried...but you can see the scratch easily. DH will be home in about 20 minutes. Maybe I'll call him and see what he thinks.
BTW....the pencil was brand new....not sharpened. But he got his eye with the end that you would sharpen, not the eraser end.
I've been searching for info and lots of it is mixed. Some sites say not to worry too much, others say to go in to the doctor right away.
Now I'm just rambling.

By Mommyathome on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:36 pm:

Thanks Marg.....yes I remember Jackie and the party hat incident! That was the first thing I thought of when it happened.

Our ER won't answer questions over the phone. They just say if you are worried enough about it to bring the person in. Otherwise wait till the next day and see your regular doctor.

By Vicki on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:37 pm:

Does he know what some things are...like if you cover the good eye and hold up a crayon and ask him what you have...that would at least tell you a little about the vision in the eye. I guess I wouldn't mess around and I would go to the ER if there isn't any doctors that you can call. I am surprised....I thought all doctors had an after hours person to answer the phone!!

By Marg on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:42 pm:

that's a bummer about your er.

If we call our er, they will tell you about how long you have to wait, and will even ask questions about your injury. But basically it is up to us to go in or not.

Is he crying?

By Mommyathome on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:45 pm:

Ok, I just did the little test you suggested Vicki.....he did good. He knew what everything was.
He is playing barbies now and seems fairly happy. Except his eye is all watery. When he rubs it it gets real red and he says it hurts.
I'm leaning towards taking him in...DH will be here in about 10 minutes.

By Mommyathome on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:47 pm:

No Marg....he isn't crying. Just when he rubs it he whines that it hurts. He hasn't really cried about it since it happened.

By Vicki on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:49 pm:

Great news that he can still see out of it at least!! I imagion that a bad scratch like that would make your eye water and hurt. Just getting a little eyelash in it feels like something HUGE!! Poor little guy. I bet if you take him in, they could give him some kind of drops or something to help numb (sp?) it and make it feel better. It has to bug him like the dickens!!

By Sue3 on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:52 pm:

Robin,
So sorry about your Ds. Ouch.With his eye watering so much would mean that it is irritating. I would take him to ER.
Though I am also a BIG worry wort.
It`s just that it`s his eye,I would worry about infection. Good luck.
and if you go to ER I hope you don`t have to wait long.keep us posted

By Mommyathome on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:52 pm:

I guess we are going in. Thanks Vicki and Marg for your help. It's so hard to know what to do when he can't say "mom, I have sensitivity to light since my eye was injured earlier".
So, we will be on our way in to town shortly. Thanks again for the help.

By Mommyathome on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:53 pm:

Thanks Sue! I am a worry wort too. Especially when it comes to my kids. I'll post later tonight or tomorrow on the outcome.
Thanks girls!

By Palmbchprincess on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 08:59 pm:

You need to keep him from rubbing it, flush it with water to make sure there is nothing in it. How did he hit his eye with the pencil? Running? Or just hit himself by accident? My instinct as a mom says get it checked out, but Nate, as an EMT, thinks it doesn't require an ER visit. They'll cover it, and see your doctor tomorrow. But if you think there might be ANY foreign material in his eye, go now to the ER! Call the Ped in the AM and ask him if you should see him or the eye doctor. Good luck, and big hugs to you both!!

By Yjja123 on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 09:02 pm:

My daughter had an eye injury when she was 4 and we went back and forth about taking her to the ER. We did and she had damaged the cornea. We were told that had we waited she could have lost her sight in that eye. They flushed her eye and we had to put a special antibotic on the eye for several weeks. Her vision is fine now but it was a frightening time. My advice is please go to ER.
Yvonne

By Mommyof4 on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 09:15 pm:

I wear hard contacts lenses and scratched my cornea one time while trying to put them in. My eye watered and it hurt to keep it open (the light hurt it). They eye dr gave me eye drops to put in it that helped by the next day I was able to keep my eye open again.

I hope that you sons problem is something simlar to that. Please let us know what you found out at the dr.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 09:36 pm:

Curious about the ER visit. I think I would have taken my own kid to the ER for that.

By Coopaveryben on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 09:44 pm:

Robin, I hope all went fine. I think you made a wise choice, eyes are just one of those things you don't want to "wait and see" (pardon the pun).

By Ginny~moderator on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 10:06 pm:

Robin, I also think you made the right decision. Eyes are such touchy things, and often a problem from an injury can be taken care of if it is taken care of early, but waiting can sometimes cause permanent problems. Do let us know what they say.

By Jackie on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 02:32 am:

Oh my, yes I know all about this. If he is in pain, take him to the ER, as they will put numbing drops in his eye, this will stop the pain and the watering. AND, Its the ONLY way, they will be able to look in his eye to see what is wrong.
I had a corneal abrasion, and it HURTS , believe me. Ive spent lots of money on copayments and medicine for my eye.
The regular dr will have numbing drops in the office too. Then they put in this dye and look at it with a special light to see exactly where the problem is.

By Colette on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:38 am:

Hope everything turned out ok.

By Jackie on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:56 am:

Oh I wanted to add, if you can get him into an eye dr, I would start there. I remember I had first went to an Urgent care and they treated it ok. They never told me, that it would take at least 6 months to heal. So in 3 days, Ithought I was fine. When I had it the pain again a month later, I went to a Patient First, who recommended me going to an Eye Dr(I saw MD, not not an OD)the next day. The Eye dr said I should of just came to the eye dr first, and not bother with the Patient First, or Urgent care drs...But I didnt know that at the time.When I did manage to get to the eye dr, thats when he had to scrape all the dead scar tissue off my eye, as I didnt have proper care with my first visit to the Urgent care dr.

By Vicki on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:57 am:

Just checking in to see how things went....

By Sue3 on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 08:12 am:

Just checking in also.Hope all went well.I remember when our goat scratched his eye on a piece of wire fencing and the vet put numbing drops and a dye in his eye also,
he looked in his eye with a light and the dye intensified the scratch and sure enough it was scratched and you could see it really good.
All was better with medication`s and time.

By Sunny on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 09:52 am:

Just saw this. How is your son? Did you take him to the ER?

By Mommyathome on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 11:01 am:

UPDATE:
First...thanks for all of the concern
We took him in last night to the ER. The doctor on call didn't have a very good bedside manner, but oh well. He looked in Coopers eye and said yes, he did indeed scratch his cornea. "Corneal Abrasion" is what the doctor called it. He gave us drops to put in it IF it starts to drain or anything like that. But, if it just keeps improving then we don't need to use the drops.
I'm glad we went in. Like everyone said, eyes aren't something you want to risk.

This morning he isn't rubbing it at all. It is all red though. It still looks pretty sad, but he doesn't seem to be too bothered by it. He is kind of squinting that eye.
I figure I will let it go today, and if it's still red and squinted in the morning I'll take him to his regular doctor.

BTW....about the pencil in the eye....he was just sitting on the couch with an unsharpened pencil. My DD just got 3 new pencils and she was working on sharpening them. He went to get off the couch and got himself in the eye with the pencil. He started crying, and then fell asleep while I was holding him. He slept for a couple hours so I didn't think any more of his eye. When he woke up he started rubbing it and fussing over it. That's when I took a good look in it and seen that it was scratched!
Thanks again!

By Marg on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 11:07 am:

I'm glad he's doing better!

I always worry when it comes to eyes! A precious thing we are given that can't be replaced

By Ilovetom on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 11:14 am:

It usually takes about 24 hours for the cornea to heal itself.

I burned mine once in a *tanning bed*. I know. I don't do it anymore.

By Cat on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 03:13 pm:

Robin scratched his really bad with his fingernail when he was 4 months old. We weren't sure what was wrong other than his eye was really red and watery and he was unconsolable. We spent an hour in the ER with his then pediatrician (who happened to be on call that day) while the ped kept trying to get the "eyelash" out of Robin's eye. He rinsed it, washed it, used a q-tip, you name it. He finally called in an eye doctor who took one look and said "That's a scratch, not an eyelash." The specialist prescribed tylanol 3 (with morphine--for a 4mo!) and said to bring him in to his office in something like 5 days. The ped felt AWFUL!!! He even said if we wanted to see someone else from then on he'd understand. He called us the next day to see how Robin was doing and we happened to run into him about a week later at the commissary. He spent 5-10 minutes playing with Robin right there in the store! lol We did go back to see him and Robin's eye was fine. It had already started to heal by the time we saw the specialist. I think we only gave him one or two doses of the med. We kept his nails trimmed really well after that.

Hope your little guy's eye heals quickly.

By Sue3 on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:02 pm:

Robin,
Glad everything went well,to bad about the the bad bed side manner though.
My ds`s allergist is like that and it is not very pleasant when we have an appointment with him.
sounds like it will heal well.

By Mommyathome on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 07:10 pm:

Thanks It's looking even better this afternoon. He's not complaining about it at all. So, looks like everything will be OK for now!

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, March 11, 2004 - 10:34 pm:

Thanks for the updates. Glad you went to the ER, sorry the doc was a jerk. Really glad things look OK.