Today I had my eye scratched 12 times, I am now traumatised.

[mypokerface]

Had to go to emergency eye A&E today, have had red, sore eyes for about a month with a burning sensation. The doctor said she's have to take some tissue from my eye to send away for tests. I thought she'd rub a cotton wool stick on my eye or something similiary painless and take a swab. Instead she said she's had to scrape my eye by scratching it. She has to scratch it 12 times to fill 3 dishes full of enough samples. I keep having flashbacks about the needle coming towards my eye and then my eyeball rolling uncontrollably as she scratched the cornea... I know it was necessary but I don't know if I will ever get over it. seriously. I think it was even worse than giving birth!

oh my god, that sounds truly awful. my ds scratched my eye when he was an infant and i had to go to a&e for it - the pain was excrutiating - i can't really imagine having it done 12 times!

did they give you pain meds? they gave me some that really worked well, can't remember what they are called but it did have a 'caine' in it....

No, they didn't give me any pain relief at all! The doctor did say cornea scratches heal really quickly, I only hope it's true...

they do heal really quickly but still - it's a lot of pain for the first day or so. personally, i would take any pain meds you could and visit your gp if they don't help. i also had a patch for a day or so and it really helped. there are some hcp's who disagree with the whole patch thing, but it really helped me.

good luck! and the drops with the 'caine' were brilliant - they sort of numbed things. the a&e docs weren't keen on giving much out but my gp didn't mind.

btw, i'm not actually a drug addict

Oh God that's sounds horrendous! Poor you. It's bad enough when I get debris on my contact lens and then that scratches my eye and makes it sore. I can't even begin to imagine how bad that was; someone actually scratching your cornea on purpose.

I had no idea they did this sort of thing, in this day and age surely there must be a better way? I am hitting the wine to help with the pain.

Youch! And yuck - I hate people going near my eyeballs. Have been know to pass out when they do that pressure test thingy. Much wine and bother your GP for painkillers if you need them.