As such, general or emergency department doctors should refer cases involving the posterior segment of the eye or intraocular foreign bodies to an ophthalmologist.

Flicking sand, flying pieces of wood, metal, glass and stone are notorious for causing much of the eye trauma.

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) with head and facial trauma may also have an eye injury – these are usually severe in nature with multiple lacerations, shards of glasses embedded in tissues, orbital fractures, severe hematoma and penetrating open-globe injuries with prolapse of eye contents.

Other causes of intraocular trauma may arise from workplace tools or even common household implements,[2] including bottle-caps suddenly propelling at great force.

[4] Multiple complications are known to occur following eye injury: corneal scarring, hyphema, iridodialysis, post-traumatic glaucoma, uveitis cataract, vitreous hemorrhage and retinal detachment.

[5] Depending on the medical history and preliminary examination, the primary care physician should designate the eye injury as a true emergency, urgent or semi-urgent.

It includes 1)Penetrating trauma: the globe integrity is disrupted by a full-thickness entry wound and may be associated with prolapse of the internal contents of the eye.

This includes penetrating globe injuries; corneal abrasions or corneal foreign bodies; hyphema (must be referred); eyelid lacerations that are deep, involve the lid margin or involve the lacrimal canaliculi; radiant energy burns such as arc eye (welder's burn) or snow blindness; or, rarely, traumatic optic neuropathy.

The first line of management for chemical injuries is usually copious irrigation of the eye with an isotonic saline or sterile water.

Up until circa 1987, pressure patches were the preferred method of treatment for corneal abrasions in non-contact lens wearers; multiple controlled studies conducted by accredited organizations such as the American Academy of Ophthalmology have shown that pressure patching is of little or no value in healing corneal abrasions and is actually detrimental to healing in some cases.