Occasionally, a speck of dirt, an eyelash or some other small object gets into your eye and causes irritation. Tears usually wash it out. But what if they don’t?
By the Health24 team

How to remove a minor object from the eye

Always wash your hands before touching your eyes. Gently pull the upper eyelid over the lower one. Repeat a few times. If this doesn’t work, flush the eye with clean water or artificial teardrops.

If you can still see the object floating freely on the white of the eye, or if it’s in the corner of the eye or on the inside of the lower lid, you can try to carefully remove it.

Wet the tip of a cotton bud, a twisted piece of cotton swab or tissue with water (not saliva) and gently touch the object. It should cling to the moistened tip.

If you succeed in removing the object, gently flush the eye again. If not, cover it with a clean pad and go to your doctor.

If a piece of glass, twig, stone or other large object gets stuck in your eye:

• Don’t try to remove it – and don’t rub your eye.
• Keep your eyes as still as possible.
• Place the open side of a paper cup over the injured eye so that nothing touches it or the object.
• Secure the cup in place with a bandage or scarf that covers both eyes. (This prevents the injured eye from moving.)
• Go to the nearest hospital immediately.

In the case of chemical burns to the eye:

• Flush the chemicals out of the eye as quickly as possible.
• Hold the eyelid open and gently run a stream of water over the eye so it splashes over the eyeball from the inner to the outer corner.
• Don’t let contaminated water run into the unaffected eye.
• Continue flushing for at least 20 minutes.
• Move your eye in all directions to rinse it thoroughly.
• If you don’t have water, you can also use milk to wash out the eye.

If you wear contact lenses, don’t try to remove the lens. Flush the eye first. Don’t rub, close or bandage the eye. Seek medical help immediately after flushing.

Don’t rub the eye. It may cause further scratching. use hard items such as needles or toothpicks.

Don’t try to remove an object that is embedded in the white of the eye or in front of the coloured part of the eye (the iris) or the pupil. Rather wash it out with saline solution.

The emergency treatment of eye injuries