What to do When Something Gets in Your Eye

Everyone’s been through this situation: One minute you’re going about life as happy as a clam, but then suddenly you feel something in your eye. It’s an unpleasant feeling, and your first instinct is to rub your eye to try to remedy the situation—we’re here to tell you, do not rub your eye!

You can harm yourself by rubbing your eye. Rubbing only irritates your eye more and increases the risk of dragging the object across your eye and scratching its surface. This is a painful injury because the cornea of your eye (the clear portion of your eye that contains the iris and pupil) contains a lot of nerve endings and is very sensitive. What’s more, you can also imbed objects into your eye when you rub it.

In lieu of rubbing out the offending object, here’s what you should do when you get something in your eye:

Try blinking your eye quickly. This can easily dislodge and dirt or debris that may have entered it.

Have someone else look at your eye to determine the location of the foreign body and whether it can be easily removed.

Use artificial tears or saline fluid to try to flush the object out of your eye.

Pull your upper eye lid down and out over your lower lid and then let it slide back. This simple trick can often help dislodge an object.

If you’ve already done the deed of rubbing your eye and you’re experiencing pain, please contact our office immediately. Our doctor will check for any scratches or embedded particles in your eye and effectively treat your case.