Eyelash stuck in eye for days- should I go to A&E?

[mightymam]

I rubbed my eye on Tuesday night and got an eyelash stuck in my eye. It hurt like hell. So far, I've tried flushing it out with tap water (bad, I know), using lots of eye drops, rubbing my eye like a madwoman to try and get it to move but it's still there days later. It's rubbing on my eye each time I blink and is driving me barmy. What should I do?! It's stuck under my top eyelid and there's nothing more I can do. Any advice? Should I go to A&E? The opticians? I'm getting desperate now and don't want to scratch my retina or cause any other eye/vision problems :(

Many A&E departments and minor injuries units have an eye department, have a Google and see what’s near you. Alternatively, could an optician help?

I'd go to an optician. I got something in my eye while on holiday and popped into an optician and they were able to rinse it out and take a look to check I hadn't done any damage. They then prescribed some eye drops to help lubricate it to stop the irritation.

Go to an optician. They will have a triage system. Don’t rub your eye. You may have an abrasion in your eye

go to an optician soon as you can

You can’t scratch your retina because the retina is like the curtain of skin across the back of your eye. Maybe you mean cornea? Anyway - water won’t help because it doesn’t have the same slip as eye drops. If you can see the eye lash and know it’s stuck then an optician is the best point of call and they’ll remove it for you. If you can’t actually see anything you might find it’s just irritation and there’s nothing actually there now and using eye drops (Hycosan extra are best) every hour should help.

I think an optician is your best bet. You will wait hours in A and E, if they don’t send you to the opticians anyway. I went to the opticians for a stuck contact lens once, they were very kind and happy to help (it had fallen out 😳)

Can you see the eyelash? It could be gone and it's maybe scratched your cornea. I would def get it checked out. A cooled teabag in the eye will help soothe inflammation a little bit.

Thank you all- I'll go to the opticians in the morning and pray they take pity on me and help.

And, sorry, yes I mean scratched cornea. I've had laser eye surgery in the past and don't want to cause anymore damage to the surface of my eye.

Agree with optician. When this happens to me I find the best way of getting it out is to fold a single layer of a clean tissue into a point and just touch it onto the eyelash, the surface tension or whatever causes it to pick it up. However I wear contact lenses and am used to things touching my eye, I'd understand if you couldn't do this and even if it works I'd get it checked out by an optician for scratches after this length of time.

Definitely the opthamologist at the optician. They will probably sort it out and if they can’t they can refer you to an eye casualty - that way you won’t be waiting at the wrong a&e.

They will. They can triage you as you have had surgery in past
hylo forte is a very good eye drop to use. if you need it.

just don’t rub eye can make things worse.

good luck ❤️

Sorry my comment about not hurting your retina sounded a bit preachy and I didn’t mean it to - I was trying to reassure you as the retinas are perhaps the most vital part of the eye and the most difficult to repair if damaged (although can be done!) and I was trying to reassure you ❤️ (I have retinal issues).

Hope you can get seen tomorrow 🤞

Don't try what I suggested if it is near the iris, only if well away on the white

Are there any eye infirmaries near you?

Also, some opticians are part of an urgent Eyecare system, and can provide assessment / treatment / referral for sudden onset eye problems. I got referred to one of them by my pharmacy last year when I went in to ask the pharmacist about advice for a minor eye problem. I didn’t know that serve existed before then.
If you google urgent eyecare system opticians you should be able to find out if that’s available in your area.

An optician will have much better equipment to see your eye in detail. Definitely go to them rather than A&E

Jesus H Christ when will people understand A&E is life and limb emergencies?!? How could you even consider it??

If it's definitely a lash stuck, you can sometimes get it to shift by carefully pulling your eyelid out and over your lower lashes. The lower lashes then sort of scrape the inside of your eyelid. Clean hands, eyes first.
If nothing there, v possible it could be a scratch - always feels worse than it is.
Defo opticians rather than a and e.

This happened to me. Pull the top eyelid out by holding the top eyelashes, then pull it down (while still holding it out) over the bottom eyelashes. Let go slowly and the top eyelid kind of gets a sweep / brushing motion inside by the bottom eyelashes. Worked for me.

Thanks all. I posted this on a local Fb group too and someone mentioned a specialist eye hospital in town that I'm going to go to tomorrow. I had no idea it even existed so I'm glad I posted!

My vision is getting slightly blurry now so I'm going to take any chances.

I'm really squirmish when it comes to the eye (or anything really) so haven't got the guts to try anything other than what I've tried already!

I've got viscotears at home and have gone through two tubes. I suffer from dry eyes anyway and this eyelash is making my life a misery.

This happened to me. It got worse so quickly though and I had to go to eye a&e as I couldn't open or close my eye without it feeling like I glass scraping across my eye. Insanely painful. The eyelash had caused a massive scratch. I was given two types of eye drops for about a week and couldn't even look the light without being in pain. Thankfully all healed fine. Don't rub it or try to remove it, could get worse. The irritation may not even be a eyelash anymore, it may be a scratch.

Neither an accident or an emergency, go to an optician.

Yes the opticians are much better equipped than general a&e.
But can be an emergency for an opticians examination as any abrasion on the cornea can be a route for infection. Sometimes it’s really hard to get an optician appointment.
And some eye hospitals will not take walk in people without referral from an optician so hopefully she will be triaged by optician if they can’t deal with it

good luck tomorrow.

Although I agree A+E probably isn't the best place for OP not everything has to be a massive emergency to attend A+E. Thats why most of them have areas for more minor injuries.