Chemical exposures can cause corneal injuries. They burn the eye and usually lead to vision loss. Some symptoms of these are burning sensations, tearing, swelling, and reddening of the eyes. The victim of this event comes into the ER, gets examined, and begins treatment. Initial treatment is where the patient’s eye gets flushed with saline until the pH balance has lowered. After, they use an ophthalmic ointment and patch the eyes for several days to heal them faster. If the eyes aren’t healing, the doctors have to perform something called a corneal transplant.
The cornea protects the iris and pupil from germs and scratches, refracts light to protect the retina from damage, and aids in focusing on objects. A corneal transplant is needed to reduce the pain of the chemical burn/corneal injury and bring back the patient’s lost vision. Other reasons may be to prevent keratoconus, which is when the cornea bulges out into a cone shape, from happening. To start the process of corneal transplants, medical professionals must get a replacement cornea from a healthy, non-infectious organ donor who passed away within eight to twelve hours. During the procedure, the surgeons remove the small middle piece of the cornea(called a “button”), replace it with a new, replacement cornea, and suture it into place. Recovery takes a couple of months, and then at the six-month mark, the patient goes to get the sutures removed. Later on, the patient completely recovers from the chemical explosion burns in their eyes, and can live a normal life with nonblurred vision.
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