With the summer holidays well and truly underway a few people have asked me what to do when sand, suncream, dirt or other objects get in the children's eyes and how best to deal with it.
Signs of something in the eye
1. Sensation of something in the eye
2. Pain or itch in the eye
3. Redness and watering eye
4. Vision problems
What to do
1. Try to get child to stop rubbing the eye
2. Flush the eye out with sterile water in an eye pod from your first aid kit, using the cool running tap water or using a jug of cool tap water.
3. Place your child's head over the sink. The ear beside the injured eye should be over the sink while the child is looking at the wall. This often works best with a jug in the back garden if no eye pod available.
4. Gently pull down the lower eyelid.
5. Gentle pour the water off the bridge of the nose so it flows into the injured eye.
6. Flush out the eye anywhere from 30 seconds up to 5 minutes depending on the removal of the object.
7. If you have flushed the eye for 5 minutes and the eye is still irritated then you should go to your doctor/optician.
8. To go to the doctor cover the eye with an eye patch but also cover the healthy eye as movement of the healthy eye will cause movement of the object on the injured eye which could increase the damage caused
9. If the object has penetrated the surface of the eye, cover both eyes and seek immediate attention for it.
TIP - If your child won't let you touch the eye to pull down the eyelid then just let the water flow of the bridge of the nose while the eye is close. Then when they are comfortable with that sensation encourage them to start blinking. In the majority of mild cases this will be enough to clear the suncream, sand or dirt.
