Corneal abrasion happens when friction causes a part of the cornea to separate from the layer immediately below (don’t know the name). It happened to me in September and it was very painful and treatment was cumbersome - applying an ointment to my eye every two hours.
I got a clean bill of health from my opthomoligist in December but I need to continue using the ointment on the injured eye at bedtime and eye drops to both eyes every two hours. I’ll have to do this the rest of my life.
I asked my opthomoligist if this was a side effect from my diabetes? He said the jury was still out and there were conflicting studies. He treats diabetics exclusively so I’m sure he’s up to date.
I’m curious if anyone else has had this problem. I’ve never heard about this as a diabetes complication.
Hmmm, the only time I had this was when I had extremely dry eyes and my contact stuck. Husband also had it from a scratch to his eye. I have never heard of it in a diabetes context, nor have I heard of having to treat something like this for the rest of your life. Interesting…
I had corneal abrasions from wearing contact lenses, but that was 50 years ago and I was not yet diabetic.
Not sure why you’d have to use the ointment and eye drops for the rest of your life, unless it’s because you have very dry eyes which caused the abrasion in the first place. Back when I had the abrasions, I just had to use the ointment for a few days, as I recall. The one thing I definitely remember…they were painful as hell!
I was diagnosed with a corneal abrasion a year ago from something that entered my eye, where from who knows. I went through the same course of treatment with the ointment and drops, but finished it in two months. No future treatment, and I had been a diabetic for over 8 years, the doctor did not bring up any connection.
What I remember the most was the relief when my eye was numbed.))
I had a severe corneal abrasion years ago that was due to (essentially) a paper cut on my eye. I had to use antibiotic eye drops for two weeks and lubricatting eye drops for longer, and was almost prescribed a special cushioned contact lens to wear at night… I had very close follow- up (twice a week) for about three weeks to make sure it was healing. I didn’t have to use the eye drops for the rest of my life, but was told to use them if my eyes felt particularly dry or gritty. So I do end u using them several times a week due to dry or gritty eyes.
I had many. I wear gas permeable contacts. They have gotten stuck in my eyes and I have worn contacts. too long in a period which also gave corneal abrasions.
I do not think the abrasionS were cause by diabetes
Used drops and oitment
I’m pretty sure corneal abrasion means “eye scratch.” Have known others who had and know from their complaining that it sucks bad. Hurts bad. None of them were diabetic. I dont think theres any direct connection.
Well, my understanding is corneal abrasions can sometimes happen spontaneously for no real reason…but most are due to something scratching the cornea. Not sure if there might be a connection between diabetes and the spontaneous kind of corneal abrasion. I’ve never heard of it, but that doesn’t mean anything.
I think Jen is describing what I’m experiencing. In my case the ‘scratch’ was a section of the cornea detaching from the layer below because of friction against the cornea - maybe against my eyelid during the night when blinking isn’t continuously lubricating the cornea’s surface. I was put on antibiotic ointment daily and lubricating ointment every two hours for two months until it healed. But apparently the weak attachment of my cornea to the layer below is chronic, hence the need for ongoing treatment. That chronic condition is what my opthomoligist said might be associated with diabetes (jury still out). No one so far has replied that they’ve had these types of abrasions. So if it is a diabetes complication, apparently it’s not that common.
Sorry I didn’t supply this detail in the original post. Would have been much clearer what I was asking, but thanks for all your input!
