To not know how to treat this? Mascara in my eyeball

[OopsAnotherOne]

Posting for traffic, sorry! I'm just (rather embarrassingly) completely unsure of what to do, Google isn't giving any answers and I keep getting cut off from 111 due to horrendous mobile signal. Getting conflicting advice from the people I've asked in "real life" so any advice on what to do from someone with any actual experience/knowledge would be gratefully appreciated!

About an hour ago I rubbed my eye and an eyelash must have come loose as it poked by eyeball at just the right angle that it actually pierced my eyeball. The eyelash had some mascara on it which I can now see is sitting under the "skin/outer layer" of my eyeball. It was immediately incredibly painful, but after 20 minutes or so it just felt like I had grit in my eye and now it doesn't hurt at all, it just feels a bit uncomfortable. There's no bleeding/bruising but my eye is a bit red and watery.

The mascara in my eyeball is very small, as if someone's drawn a dot on my eyeball with a biro or something - just a black grain.

All advice online suggests rinsing/washing the area which I have done but as the mascara is actually in my eyeball, rather than just on it, this isn't moving it. There's no splinter that a doctor could get any grip on to pull the mascara out, so I'm just wondering what I need to do. I have no experience in eye injuries and am not sure if it will just work it's way out like splinters in other parts of the bodies do? I understand the risk of infection as I have a foreign object in my eye that I can't clean out or remove.

Is this the sort of thing that needs immediate treatment? Is it a "wait and see" situation? Would this be something for a GP or an optician? If it does need treating, would minor injuries be the right place to go? I absolutely don't want to waste any NHS time or resources if they're not necessary but I also don't want to ignore/neglect it and then end up with some sort of infection if I can help it, so I'm just trying to establish the appropriate services to contact as this is completely new to me. I don't know if this is something that will get better on it's own. I'm still trying to get through to 111 but a bit of guidance in the meantime would be so helpful! Thank you in advance 🙂

I would just add, I'm very much in the "watch and wait, to see if it works it's way out" camp but I don't actually have any experience or knowledge re. foreign objects in eyes to make that decision with confidence. I'm not particularly worried or concerned, my sight is still fine but I just don't want to find out later down the line that I now have a bigger problem because I should have done something completely different.

Maybe try an optician? They should be able to check your eye/wash it out if needed

Phone your local optician. They'll be able to advise

Also of the wait and see. I'd get some optrex and an eye bath and have a few goes at washing it out. If nothing came of that, I'd perhaps visit an optician rather than doctor. As they know about eyes.

I'd go to an optician. I had an eyelash scratching my eye one time and I walked in to the local optician. Had to wait a little bit but they were happy to look and sorted it for me.

They can check any damage as well and advise on follow up care.

Have you got an eye hospital nearby? Or an eye A & E?
DD got a minute piece of grit embedded in her eyeball (well I think technically it's the cornea rather than the actual eyeball but ..) and was sent to the eye clinic by the GP immediately.

Yes, I second ringing the optician to see what they advise. They may be concerned about infection.

I'd definitely try a deal with it straightaway - you don't want an infected/ulcerated eye.

Two A&E departments both about an hour away but I can drive there if needed, I also have a minor injuries unit 15 minutes away.

Specsavers are our local NHS emergent eye clinic, you go there in the first instance and they refer you to hospital if they can't help.

Thank you for all the advice re. dealing with it straight away and contacting an opticians, I'm going to give the local ones a call now to see if there's anyone who can fit me in at short notice. I feel so much more reassured now I've actually had some solid advice rather than Googling and doubting myself.

Your local high street optician is by far your best option. They will examine your eye with the best equipment, treat you and advise if you need to go anywhere else. They will probably charge you a fee, but IMO it is money well spent.

Oh absolutely, more than happy to pay to keep my eyes in good shape if needed, you only get two of them! 🙂Really appreciate all the advice.

Go to your local optician. They often do direct referrals to the eye department at the hosp for the same day. You don’t want this to turn into a corneal ulcer.

Is there an eye casualty near you? If you’re in a city there might be. The local one near me takes self-referrals - you ring them then come in if they think you need seeing.

If not I’d perhaps go for minor injuries

DH got an eye injury while gardening. He called our optician and they saw him straight away. They cleaned his eye, checked the injury was superficial and gave him antibiotic drops to use for a week. £10. We are late 60s, so maybe they charged a bit less, I dont know. But it was all sorted very quickly.

The local opticians I phoned couldn't fit me in today so I'm going to start calling further afield to get this sorted! I'm hoping it's not too deeply embedded as I get a bit squeamish at the idea of having my eye poked at, but I suppose it's still not half as bad as leaving it to get infected.

I had an eye problem recently and called my local Specsavers. They run a service called ACES (acute community eye services) they booked me an emergency appointment for that day. It’s provided by the NHS so no charge, they were really thorough. Not sure if that’s a UK service or just my area but hopefully something similar near you

I'd also say opticians rather than a&e.
they helped me once when some grit from a astroturf pitch got stuck in my eye! Really quick and helpful.

@OopsAnotherOne

If you don’t find one you’re going to have to attend your local eye casualty. This is what it is there for.

Definitely an optician appointment. Not sure whereabouts in the country you are bur if you can find out which opticians are covered by an emergency referral scheme in your area you should be able to get seen within 48 hours. Here in Hull it's known as CUES but I've heard it called PEARS in other areas.

Don't mess with your eyes. Optician asap

My nearest Eye Hospital is a couple of hours away so logistically it's a bit more difficult for me to get to. I'm exhausting the other options first but I absolutely will go if necessary.

I've got an appointment at 12pm with an optician in the next town over under the ACES scheme, prompted by all of your advice. Thank you once again to everyone who pointed me in the right direction, I wasn't sure if I was over/under concerned. Now I'm happy I'm doing the right thing and it should hopefully be sorted by this afternoon! 😀

Hey OP how did you get on?