If somebody punched in your eye are contact lens safe?

Question

I think you are likely to close your eyes before impact.

Are contact lens safe when impacted by something small and fast, quicker than your eye can close?

Safe inasmuch they will not cause extra eye damage or the risk of?

Answer 1

Contact lenses probably provide a minor extra degree of safety in the event of eye trauma.

In any event where the impact might make the lens split or otherwise damage the eye, the eye was in serious trouble anyway.

The old story of a welding flash fusing a contact lens to the cornea is an urban legend.

Answer 2

Getting punched in the eye...is it dangerous? Depends.

Basically the bones around the eye protect the eyeball fairly well. That's why when boxers get hit and cut and get all bloody, it's usually an eyebrow that is split. And there are so many vessels, It really bleeds.

But on occasion, people do get direct ocular trauma...whether a fist or a finger or a baseball or racketball, or softball, or tennis ball....

Starting on the outside, the lid can become lacerated or torn. If the tear is in the middle of the lid...sort of easy to repair if one does it carefully. But if the tear is between the punctum of the lid (upper or lower), then the ophthalmologist has to try and reconnect that little tube so that tears will drain normally. If it's the upper lid, many don't bother as most of the drainage occurs in the lower. But if it's the lower one...takes some time to find the little guy and reconnect it. If not done correctly then people tear a lot like they're crying. That's called epiphora and after awhile the skin under the eye gets raw from all the kleenex wipes.

If the surface of the eye is torn, the conjunctiva...it bleeds, but is fairly easy to repair.

If the cornea, the clear part through which we can see the colored iris (blue, gray, brown, green), that's an open globe. The sutures used to fix that are so fine that if they get lost on the operating field, one just opens a new one. One looks for the little needle as it's easier to see. If the outer cornea is torn, the central portion stays clear. If it tears through the center, that'll effect the vision and require more surgery later such as a transplant.

If the white part is torn or ruptured...not good. That's even more difficult to repair, but people do well if the contusion isn't so severe that the retina isn't damaged or the nerve isn't damaged. Usually the white part tears just behind the muscle insertion. There are 4 main muscles, one on top, one on the bottom and one on each side. Then there are two more oblique ones. The tears occur usually at the main ones.

Blunt trauma, without tearing things open or tearing things up causes lostsof problems within the eye itself. The iris can be torn, the lens can be damaged or dislocated or partially dislocated or subluxed.

Worse is when the blood vessel layer in the back gets torn. Those are called choroidal tears and they are permanent. If the bleeding gets into the retina, it really damages it. If the retina is torn, that can lead to a retinal detachment which is when it floats around inside the eye instead of being attached at the sides. One can bleed into the center of the eye as well. Thats a vitreous hemorrhage. That'll go away, usually within a month or so, but then one can't see anything inside the eye to see if it's torn or damaged or ? because there's too much blood.

Blunt retinal trauma appears as white blotches. It's when the little photoreceptors are filled with fluid. This goes away after a few weeks and may not result in permanent damage. Then again it can lead to thinning and loss of function of the retina.

Sooooo
if you are in a contact sport...boxing, cage fighting, jujitsu, football, waterpolo...and on and on..including tennis..wear safety goggles. A LOT cheaper than a trip to the operating room.

And the fighting thing? Just tell the guy his is bigger and walk away. It's just not worth it. There are limits to this, I know.

Answer 3

They are perfectly safe as long as you take good care of them (proper cleaning/storing, changing to a new pair as directed, etc.) Once your eyes become adjusted to wearing contacts, they should be super comfortable. Adjusting to them can take up to 2 weeks, so be patient with yourself. You will also have to practice inserting/removing your contacts; that too will take time, but you will get better at it the more you do it. Your eye doctor will train you on everything you need to know when/if you decide to go for an appointment. Inserting/removing the contacts will probably be the most difficult thing for you, and it's not really that hard to do at all. Your eye doctor will provide with a trial pair of contacts to wear for a 2 week trial, if he feels that you are a good candidate for contacts. Wearing that pair for 2 weeks will help you decide if you like contacts, and would like to order your own, and continue wearing contacts.

Answer 4

You will damage the eye and contact, never try this. This is illegal and the person might file charges, the contacts will come out once the force of the hand reaches the eye.

Answer 5

I take it you are wanting to punch someone in the eye????

It could be dangerous so i would never punch in the eye! With contact lenses and glasses makes it more dangerous.
You can easily seriously damage the eye by punching it.

Answer 6

Grow up man, quit punching little kids in the eyes.

Answer 7

No