The Eye Practice

Eye Injuries are serious business – and should always be considered an emergency. 

At The Eye Practice, Dr. Jim Kokkinakis has both the therapeutic training and experience to treat such injuries and to remove foreign particles that have entered the eye.

The main problem with eye injuries is that the damage that has been done may not be obvious at first. You get something in your eye at work (this is especially common among tradies) – say, either a chemical or bit of metal, and you run to an eyewash station. The eyewash station floods your eyes with water, and, hopefully, removes all the material that got into your eye. Some people will just stop there, thinking they're fine.

That's when the problems can really start.

When you ignore the potential severity of an eye injury, you are putting yourself at risk for going blind. Globally, over one million people have gone blind from eye injuries, and 90% of those injuries could have been prevented with protective eye wear, worn properly.

• Any eye injury, whether it is in your house while cleaning your floors, or just having a walkabout in your garden, is a medical emergency. Certainly, you can wash out the eyes thoroughly before you come in, in order to try to remove any large foreign bodies, but DO come in to see us. We have equipment to magnify the eye area, examine for any deeper damage or bits of debris that need to be removed, and can offer treatments that can save your eyes from further damage.

The fact is, you may not realize the injury is worse than it seems – but left untreated, and you could lose an eye.

 

Some people avoid coming in after an eye injury because they're embarrassed over how it happened. They think they've removed the chemicals or debris on their own, and just want to move on – but the problem is, fragments and chemicals that your eye can't feel could be working their way into the tissue, causing permanent damage. Once that damage is done, there is little anyone can to to help you. Swallow your pride after an eye injury, and get in to see us – we take same day appointments for just such a possibility.

Probably the most serious eye injury is an alkaline chemical burn.  Alkaline chemicals include:

• Lime
• Ammonia cleaning products
• Drain Cleaners
• Oven Cleaners

Alkaline chemical can penetrate the eye if not washed out immediately.  Potentially these could blind you.  If you get any of these products in your eyes, it is imperative to keep flushing out the affected eye with running water and get your self immediately to an eye hospital.

With the amount of eye injuries we have seen at The Eye Practice, and the many stories we've heard about how those injuries happened, we've seen and heard just about everything. Remember, we are professionals who deal with many different situations on any given day, and we want to help you protect your sight. So no worries – just come in and get treated before it's too late!

So don't wait – come in to The Eye Practice the moment an injury happens. It could literally save your sight. Call us immediately on 9290 1899.

Eye Injuries (Traumas) are an unfortunate part of our consultation process at The Eye Practice.  A week would not go by without someone making an urgent appointment because they have a piece of metal stuck in their eye.

These types of injuries are very common with tradies, who have forgotten to wear their protective goggles. Other patients that turn up might be just walking on the street and a small piece of rust floating through the air from the exhaust of a car can fall right into the eye - very unlucky and there is not much you can do about that sort of injury.

At The Eye Practice, Dr Jim Kokkinakis is therapeutically trained to remove foreign bodies that commonly occur with carpenters and metal workers.  If you think you have something in your eye that is painful and has made the eye become inflamed call us immediately on 9290 1899 - we will see you on  the same day.

     

Eye Injures are also all too common in the household.  A recent article in MiVision, an industry magazine for optometrists and ophthalmologists explored this very important issue.

"Among the key findings of the latest Eye Injury Snapshot:

• One in four of the eye injuries occurring at home were due to play/sports.
• Another 25 per cent were due to home repair or power tools
• The yard and garden were the places people were most likely to suffer an eye injury in the home.
• Nearly half of the injuries reported were to people between the ages of 30-64, while children 12 years of age or younger represented about 12 per cent of the injuries".

The article also mentioned the importance of our most priceless sense; our Vision.  At least 70% of how we perceived the world around us comes from our eyes, while touch, smell, taste and hearing make up the rest.

If only we would use some common sense when it came to doing household chores, many of the devastating injuries could be avoided.

CLICK HERE to read the article in full.