Your eyes are important to us. For this reason, our Beverly Hills eye doctors are available for consultation and emergency care after hours in the event you experience an eye injury or emergency. Simply call 310.276.5333 any time, day or night, 24/7, to reach one of our doctors. If you experience an eye urgency during regular business hours, call our office to be seen as soon as possible.

Examples of urgent eye vision care situations include:

• A red, painful eye, especially one that is light sensitive or accompanied by nausea.
• A painful eye injury.
• Foreign objects in the eye.
• Sudden loss of vision or a sudden change in vision.
• Sudden onset of flashing lights, especially when accompanied by a change in vision.
• Chemical exposure.
• Blunt trauma to the eye.

Eyecare First Aid:

• Small Object on the Eye or Eyelid:
  • The patient should not rub the eye. Wash your hands before examining someone else's eye.
  • Have the patient look up, down, and side to side while looking for the object.
  • If the object is on the eyelid, try flushing it out with water or sterile saline. You may try touching a moist cotton tipped swab to the object to remove it.
  • If the object is on the white part of the eye, try to gently flush it out with water or sterile saline. DO NOT touch the eye itself with a cotton swab. If the foreign object is on the clear, central, front part of the eye, call our office or the doctor on call. Attempting to remove the object will further embed it in the eye.
• Object Stuck or Embedded in the Eye:
  • Do NOT try to remove the object. Do NOT touch or apply any pressure to it.
  • If the object is large and protruding, place a paper cup over the injured eye and tape it in place to protect it from being bumped. Instruct the patient to keep both eyes still and not to look around. Moving the uninjured eye will cause corresponding movement of the injured eye and may worsen injury.
  • Call our office or the doctor on call immediately.
• Chemicals in the Eye:
  • Flush with cool tap water or sterile saline immediately. Turn the patient's head so the injured eye is down and to the side (this will prevent the chemical from running into the uninjured eye.) Holding the eyelid open, allow running water from the faucet to flush the eye for 15 minutes.
  • If chemicals are on other parts of the body, have the victim take a shower.
  • If the person is wearing contact lenses and the lenses did not flush out from the running water, have the person try to remove the contacts AFTER the flushing procedure.
  • Continue to flush the eye with clean water or saline while seeking medical attention from our office.
• DO NOT:
  • DO NOT press or rub an injured eye.
  • DO NOT attempt to remove a foreign object that appears embedded in any part of the eye.
  • DO NOT use cotton swabs, tweezers, or anything else on the eye itself. Cotton swabs should only be used on the eyelid.
  • DO NOT attempt to remove an embedded object.
• Seek Medical Attention from our office if:
  • There appears to be any visible cut or penetration of the eyeball.
  • A chemical gets into your eye.
  • The eye is painful and red.
  • Nausea accompanies the eye pain.
  • You have any trouble seeing.
• Prevention:
  • Supervise children closely. Do not allow them to throw objects at each other. Children should wear safety eyewear when appropriate.
  • Always wear protective eyewear when using power tools, hammers, or other striking tools.
  • Always wear protective eyewear when working with toxic chemicals.

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