How To Get Rid Of Red Eyes: Top 5 Causes

Have you ever had a red eye? Well, today I’m going to talk about how to get rid of red eyes. I’ll discuss five causes of red eye, including corneal abrasions. I’ll talk about the causes, the symptoms, and the treatment.

1. Corneal Abrasion

A corneal abrasion occurs when you get a scratch in that cornea, which is a clear part of your eye that covers the colored part of your eye. Some causes – anything that can scratch your eye – fingernails, animal paws, and eyelashes getting stuck under your eye, branches from a tree – anything that scratches that cornea can cause a corneal abrasion.

Symptoms of a red-eye

Well, you can have pain, pain that’s so bad that you hardly want to open your eyes, and it can really be something that keeps you from wanting to go to work or from being able to study or read.

Also, you can get photophobia, meaning that light, especially bright sunlight, can cause extreme pain. Photophobia. Another symptom of a corneal abrasion is having the sensation that something is inside of your eye, like sand, something that you just can’t get out of the eye. You can even get blurry vision with corneal abrasions. You can get very watery or teary eyes.

How do you treat a corneal abrasion?

1. Well, you must go to your eye doctor. You must see the ophthalmologist, and they will do a thorough examination. They may even put drops that dye your eye so they can really see whether or not you have a corneal abrasion or a scratch. And then they may give you antibiotic eye drops to help prevent infection from setting in.

They can also give you certain pain medicines, and they may even put a gauze or a patch over that eye to allow you to keep it closed to prevent corneal abrasions. 

What if life happens, and sometimes you just can’t prevent them? But if you’re in an environment where you are at high risk for getting things in your eye that could scratch them, things like wearing safety goggles, also making sure that if you are a contact lens wearer, that your contact lenses fit properly so that they’re not ill-fitting and scratching your cornea.

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2. Dryness

Dry eyes are very, very common, and they can cause red eyes. They can also cause itching eyes, and they too can cause a sensation that there’s something in the eye, like sand in the eye.

How do you treat dry eyes? 

Well, certainly, you can use artificial tears, which you can get over the counter. However, it is important to find out if there is an underlying cause of the dry eye. One illness that can cause dry eyes is called Sjogren’s syndrome. It can cause multiple systemic symptoms, but oftentimes, dry eye can be a presenting symptom of the larger disease.

So make sure that you see your primary care physician and your ophthalmologist as well to find out why you’re having dry eyes and the best way to treat your dry eyes.

3. Glaucoma (Acute angle-closure glaucoma)

If a person has this, they don’t look happy. They’re typically slumped over, holding that eye, and will complain of a severe headache, usually in the temporal area or in the front part of the brain on that side.

And yes, the eye can be red. This glaucoma is caused by an increase in intraocular pressure, this high pressure inside of the eyeball. If you have this red eye and these symptoms, it is urgent; you must see your eye doctor that day.

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And if it’s after hours, you need to go to the emergency department. Now, there are treatments, but, of course, glaucoma, if left untreated, can cause blindness. The treatments include certain drops that are medicated to help decrease the pressure in the eye.

4. Hyphema

A traumatic hyphema. What in the world is that? Well, it’s a collection of red blood cells in the anterior chamber of the eye. It’s blood that collects in the very front of your eye, and it’s usually caused by trauma.

Some common causes of a hyphema would be if children are playing and one child gets hit dead in the eyeball with a baseball; that can cause a traumatic hyphema. Or if you’re a teenager and you’re having a paintball fight and the paintball boom goes right in the eye, that can cause a traumatic hyphema.

Also, being assaulted; if you get punched in your eye, that trauma can cause a hyphema. A hyphema can definitely affect the vision, so it is an emergency. You must be evaluated by a physician, or an ophthalmologist, the same day if you see blood in the eye. So, another cause of red eye: is hyphema.

5. Conjunctivitis(also known as pinkeye)

So, what is conjunctivitis? It is the inflammation of the conjunctiva, and the conjunctiva refers to that thin membrane that lines the inside of the eyelids and also covers the white part of the eye, or the sclera. When the conjunctiva becomes inflamed, we call it conjunctivitis, and it can be caused by a virus, it can be caused by bacteria, it can be caused by allergies.

When you have viral and bacterial conjunctivitis, these things are very contagious, so number one, you need to stay home and stay away from other people, you should wash your hands frequently and should not rub your eyes.

Don’t put your hands in your eye. You definitely need to be evaluated by your primary care physician or an eye healthcare provider to get the proper diagnosis of conjunctivitis, and you need to be treated. If it is bacterial conjunctivitis, the treatment will be antibiotic drops or an antibiotic ointment, and stay away from work until you have had at least 24 hours of treatment.

This concludes my overview of the red eye. If you have a red eye, please don’t try to diagnose yourself. Make sure you go in to see your physician and go in to see your ophthalmologist. A red eye can be as simple as a little bit of a dry eye situation, or dry eyes can represent a systemic rheumatologic illness. Red eyes can represent an illness that can cause a permanent change in vision. Red eyes can represent an infection. So remember, prioritize yourself, and take care of yourself.