Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Eye Injuries
The structure of your face helps protect your eyes from injury. Still, injuries can damage your eye, sometimes severely enough that you could lose your vision. Most eye injuries are preventable. If you play sports or work in certain jobs, you may need protection.
The most common type of injury happens when something irritates the outer surface of your eye. Certain jobs such as industrial jobs or hobbies such as carpentry make this type of injury more likely. It's also more likely if you wear contact lenses.
Chemicals or heat can burn your eyes. With chemicals, the pain may cause you to close your eyes. This traps the irritant next to the eye and may cause more damage. You should wash out your eye right away while you wait for medical help.
It sits within Eyes and Vision and Injuries and Wounds.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Eye Institute.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Eye Injuries
456 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- The Effects of Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex Exercises Added to Postural Stabilization Training in Chronic Ankle InstabilityBahçeşehir University
- ONSD Trajectory in Rebound ICHBenha University
- Video Intervention to Improve Understanding of Diabetic Retinopathy at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma CenterUniversity of California, San Francisco
- Naturally Produced Cannabinoids for Neuroprotection From ConcussionUniversity of Regina
- Multimodal Analysis of Early Biomarkers of the Impacts of Perinatal AsphyxiaCentre Hospitalier Universitaire, Amiens
- IN PATIENTS WITH CORNEAL ABRASIONS TREATED WITH COLLAGEN CORNEAL SHIELDS IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT SETTINGMilton S. Hershey Medical Center
Research already completed
- Alternating and Direct Current Stimulation for Neuropathic Eye PainNeil Lagali
- Spontaneous Eye Blinking Evaluation for Cognitive Assessment of Individuals With Severe Acquired Brain InjuryAlfonso Magliacano
- Trial of Parkinson's And Zoledronic AcidCalifornia Pacific Medical Center Research Institute
- Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in the ED and Post-Traumatic SyndromeUniversity Hospital, Bordeaux
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Eye Injury and SafetyAmerican Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus
- Recognizing and Treating Eye InjuriesAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology
Symptoms
- Eye SymptomsAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology
Diagnosis and Tests
- Dilating Eye DropsAmerican Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus
Treatments and Therapies
- Black Eye: First AidMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Chemical Splash in the Eye: First AidMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- EnucleationAmerican Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus
- Foreign Object in Eye or Skin, First AidVisualDX
Prevention and Risk Factors
- Eye Injury PreventionAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology
- Safety Glasses: How to Prevent Blinding Eye InjuriesAmerican Academy of Ophthalmology
Statistics and Research
- Eye Health Data and StatisticsNational Eye Institute
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Eye InjuriesNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Eye Injuries. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Eye Injuries, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.