Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite subjects. Maybe this is on my mind just because I pulled some metal out of somebodies eye this morning, or because it is probably my favorite part of my job. This is a pretty common occurrence, especially in a community such as Abilene, because we have an abundance of metal and auto shops in town. Little pieces of metal get stuck in the eye with much frequency, and the key word here is stuck. Once metal hits the cornea, it is almost impossible for it to come off without a professional removing it. Some places will try to remove metal at home with a magnet and this just doesn’t work, more damage is usually done and the patient tends to be in much more pain. The great thing is this is usually a very fixable problem. Removing metal or other corneal foreign bodies can many times be a straightforward procedure with great results. Most of the time, health and vision are returned to the patient in a timely manner. When it gets tricky is when people wait, then the metal can rust in the eye. This can still be fixed but it may involve a little more recovery time and possible having to drill the rust out of the eye! Also, most of this can be avoided if proper eye protection and eye shields are worn when welding or working with metal. Just a few helpful hints especially for our auto worker, welder, metal worker friends out there!
