Accident and Eye Injury Clinic in Singapore

Contact us first and we can see you. Most eye injuries are seen at the clinic — a speck of grit, a scratch, a knock, or an injury already treated elsewhere that needs following up. Call or message us and we will arrange a time. If we are not open, go to a hospital accident and emergency department for assistance.

Do not rub the eye, and do not try to pick out anything that is stuck in it. Rubbing moves a particle across the cornea and turns a speck into a scratch. Blink a few times and let tears work, and if that does not clear it, have it looked at rather than persisting.

Rinse the eye immediately with clean running water for at least fifteen minutes, holding the lids open, and then get to a hospital accident and emergency department. Chemical injuries are treated as emergencies and the rinsing matters more than the travelling — start it where you are, and keep going on the way if you can.

Not if it is stuck, and not with anything sharp. A particle sitting loose on the surface may wash out with clean water or come away on its own. One embedded in the cornea needs removing under magnification at a slit lamp, with the eye numbed by drops, which is what the clinic is for.

The things that make an injury urgent are a drop in vision, severe pain, a cut to the eye itself, blood visible inside the coloured part of the eye, a pupil that has changed shape, or anything that has gone into the eye at speed. Any of these is a reason for a hospital accident and emergency department rather than an appointment.

A scratch on the cornea, the clear window at the front of the eye. It is one of the commonest eye injuries and typically follows a fingernail, a branch, a contact lens or a speck of grit. It feels like something is still in the eye, waters, and is uncomfortable in bright light. The surface heals, and treatment is aimed at keeping it comfortable and free of infection while it does.

It can, though that is uncommon, and it depends on which part of the eye is involved. A scratch to the surface heals; damage to the cornea’s deeper layers, the lens, or the retina and optic nerve at the back may not. This is the reason an injury with any change in vision is examined on the day rather than watched.

Be seen first; the paperwork follows the care. Tell us what the eye was exposed to and whether eye protection was being worn, because a high-speed particle from grinding or hammering is looked for differently from a splash or a knock. We can provide a consultation report of what was found and what was done.

The usual cause is the ultraviolet light rather than anything striking the eye, and the pain typically begins some hours afterwards, with watering and a strong dislike of light. It is a surface injury and the surface recovers. It should still be examined, because welding is also the commonest way a metal fragment enters an eye without being felt.

Yes. Tell us what happened and what the child was doing when it happened, as clearly as you can — with children the mechanism is often what decides how urgently the eye needs looking at. If the eye has been struck at speed or by anything sharp, go to a hospital accident and emergency department rather than waiting for an appointment.

No. Our clinics are open Monday to Saturday in the daytime, with our Toa Payoh clinic open until 8.30pm on Tuesdays. We are not an accident and emergency service and we do not open overnight. If we are closed and the eye cannot wait, go to a hospital accident and emergency department.

The visit is charged as an eye specialist consultation, and anything the eye needs on the day — removing a foreign body, a dressing, medication — is charged separately. What a visit comes to therefore depends on what is found, and it is confirmed with you at the consultation rather than quoted in advance.