A scratched eye, known medically as a corneal abrasion, is one of the most common eye injuries, and the good news is that most heal on their own within 24 to 72 hours. The first thing to do is rinse your eye with clean water or saline solution, avoid rubbing it, and get to a doctor promptly for evaluation.
What to Do Right Away
Start by rinsing your eye with clean water or a sterile saline solution. You can use a small, clean drinking glass positioned with its rim resting on the bone at the base of your eye socket, or a worksite eye-rinse station if one is nearby. Rinsing helps wash out any particle that may still be on the surface of your eye.
If you feel like something is stuck under your upper eyelid, try pulling the upper lid gently over the lower one. This can trigger tearing, which helps flush out debris, and the lower lashes can brush away a trapped particle.
There are a few things you should absolutely not do:
- Don’t rub your eye. This can deepen the scratch or push a foreign object further in.
- Don’t touch your eye with cotton swabs, tweezers, or other instruments. You risk making the injury worse.
- Don’t try to remove anything embedded in the eye or anything that makes the eye difficult to close.
- Don’t wear contact lenses while your eye is healing.
After rinsing, seek medical attention. Even if the scratch feels minor, a doctor can check for debris you can’t see and assess whether the abrasion is deep enough to need treatment beyond basic care.
What Happens at the Doctor’s Office
The exam is quick and painless. Your doctor will likely use an orange dye called fluorescein, applied to the surface of your eye with a small strip of blotting paper or as a drop (often combined with a numbing agent so you don’t feel discomfort). You’ll be asked to blink a few times to spread the dye across your cornea.
Then the doctor shines a blue light at your eye. Any scratched or damaged areas absorb the dye and glow green under the light, making even tiny abrasions easy to spot. The size, shape, and location of the stained area tell your doctor how serious the scratch is and what likely caused it. This whole process takes just a few minutes.
How a Scratched Eye Is Treated
Most corneal abrasions don’t require aggressive treatment. Your doctor will typically prescribe antibiotic eye drops or ointment to prevent infection while the surface heals. For pain, over-the-counter pain relievers often help. In some cases, your doctor may prescribe anti-inflammatory eye drops that reduce discomfort more directly. These are usually limited to a short course of a few days to avoid interfering with healing.
One approach that’s fallen out of favor is eye patching. Older guidelines recommended covering the injured eye, but current evidence shows patching doesn’t speed healing and can actually make you more uncomfortable by trapping heat and preventing you from blinking normally.
How Long Healing Takes
Minor scratches typically feel significantly better within 24 to 48 hours. Most corneal abrasions heal fully within two to three days and cause no lasting problems. Larger abrasions, particularly those covering more than half the corneal surface, can take four to five days. During this time, your eye will likely be sensitive to light, watery, and sore, especially when you blink.
While your eye heals, wear sunglasses if light bothers you and avoid situations where dust or debris could get into your eye. Stay out of contact lenses until your doctor confirms the surface has healed completely.
Extra Risks for Contact Lens Wearers
If you wear contact lenses, scratches on your cornea carry a higher infection risk. Lenses can harbor bacteria, and a scratch gives those bacteria a direct entry point into the corneal tissue. Sleeping in contact lenses increases the risk of a lens-related eye infection six- to eightfold, according to CDC case reports, which have documented serious infections from organisms like Pseudomonas and Klebsiella growing on lenses and lens cases.
Because of this elevated risk, contact lens wearers with corneal abrasions are often prescribed a different class of antibiotic drops that covers a broader range of bacteria. Your doctor may also want to see you for a follow-up within a day or two to make sure no infection is developing. Be honest about your lens habits, including whether you’ve slept in them or used tap water to clean them, since this changes how aggressively the scratch needs to be monitored.
Warning Signs of a Serious Problem
Most scratches heal without complications, but a small number can progress to a corneal ulcer, which is an open sore on the cornea that requires urgent care. A corneal ulcer can cause permanent vision damage if left untreated.
Get back to your doctor immediately if you notice any of these after your initial visit:
- Worsening symptoms despite treatment, especially pain that gets worse instead of gradually improving
- Increasing sensitivity to light that’s severe enough to disrupt your daily routine
- Blurred or decreased vision
- Severe eye pain that isn’t relieved by your prescribed drops or pain medication
- A large amount of discharge from the eye, particularly if it’s thick or discolored
A scratch that isn’t noticeably better after 48 hours, or one that initially improves and then gets worse again, also warrants a return visit. Recurrent corneal erosion is a condition where the healed surface breaks down again weeks or months later, and it’s more common after scratches caused by fingernails, paper edges, or plant material. If you experience sudden pain, tearing, and light sensitivity in the same eye weeks after the original injury, that pattern is worth mentioning to your eye doctor.