Is It OK To Put Cold Cloth On Reddened Eye Due To Scratching By Dog ?
Question: My 3 year old son was scratched in the eye by our family dog. There is no bleeding, or broken skin, he is just rubbing his eye a lot. The eye is not producing any tears; basically his eye is red from rubbing it. I can't tell if he is having problems seeing out of it, because we won't tell me. He doesn't want me to touch it either. He will let me put a cold washcloth on it and that seems to help. I'm wondering if it will heal on it's own? The chances of him letting a doctor look at it are slim. I know he will not sit still for drops either, he may wear a patch, but that's about all.
Hi,
Thanks for your query,
Effort should be made to examine the child's eye.Constant rubbing could be due to irritants incorporated when the dog scratched but its mandatory to rule out any visible trauma to the eye.
Injury to the Sclera (white part ) of the eye heals faster and pose no vision or future problems,where as if its to the cornea (the black center) it should be considered serious as vision will get distorted here and also healing is very poor to nil there.
Continue cold compresses but also try to put lubricant drops like Alcon Tears Naturale one drop every 6 hours from now.
Hope I have answered your query. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them.
Wish him good health.
Thanks for your query,
Effort should be made to examine the child's eye.Constant rubbing could be due to irritants incorporated when the dog scratched but its mandatory to rule out any visible trauma to the eye.
Injury to the Sclera (white part ) of the eye heals faster and pose no vision or future problems,where as if its to the cornea (the black center) it should be considered serious as vision will get distorted here and also healing is very poor to nil there.
Continue cold compresses but also try to put lubricant drops like Alcon Tears Naturale one drop every 6 hours from now.
Hope I have answered your query. If you have any follow up queries I will be available to answer them.
Wish him good health.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar