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The Riverside work injury lawyers at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo know just how critical your eyes are to you. They know you want comprehensive legal representation to help you win maximum compensation, heal as much as possible and get back to your regular life. Call our law firm right now to set up a free initial consultation and case evaluation to discuss the eye injury and your legal options with a Riverside eye injury attorney.
It is important to have legal advice from experienced and ethical attorneys as soon after the eye injury as possible to ensure that you are receiving proper medical care and to investigate and prepare your case. Whether your eyes were hurt at work, at home, in a car accident, or anywhere else, our work injury and personal injury law firm can start helping you today so call us at (951) 977-7787.
Eye injuries have occurred when the eye, eyelid or retina has either been cut, perforated, penetrated, displaced, burned by chemicals or burned by UV rays, fractured, or scratched. Retaining one’s vision is the primary goal of any eye injury treatment. The causes for eye injuries can be split into chemical and physical causes.
Our eyes are complex organs that are very sensitive to fluids and objects other than water. The eye is created to do its best to keep foreign substances out with its inset feature, our eyelids, eyelashes, and automatic quick reflexes. The “stinging” level when something gets in your eye does not directly relate to how bad that foreign substance or object is for our eyes. For example, chemicals that are basic or alkaline can be much worse for our eyes but won’t sting very much. Basic chemicals have a high pH. They include many types of cleaning fluids (eg: oven cleaner), metal polishes, cement, lime, ammonia, and chalk dust.
On the other end of the pH spectrum are acids. Acids have a low pH. They usually do most of their damage to the very front of the eye. A very common acid eye burn is when a car battery explodes and battery acid sprays into a person’s eyes. Some 0f the acids that are known to cause pain and damage to the eyes include sulfuric acid, sulfurous acid, hydrochloric acid, and nitric acid. In some cases, acid chemical eye injuries can be flushed out rather effectively. Irritants are chemicals with a neutral pH (not basic or acidic) and include such products as pepper spray.
As stated earlier, the eyes are designed to do their best to keep objects out of them. In the case of most physical trauma to the eyes, our natural protections do not have a chance. The following is a list of possible physical causes for eye injuries: car accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, skateboarding injuries, construction accidents, crosswalk accidents, flying pieces or shards of metal, glass, wood, or brick, sports injuries like badminton eye injury, baseball/softball eye injury, football eye injury, hockey eye injury, tennis eye injury, boxing eye injury, soccer eye injury, racquetball eye injury, wrestling eye injury, basketball eye injury, lacrosse eye injury, or ice skating eye injury, defective products, work injury, violence, fistfights, firecracker accidents, BB gun accidents, fingernail eye scratches, paper eye scratches, and tripping and falling. The damage caused by many of the above injuries ranges from scratches on the eye to an object being stuck in the eye.
Hot liquids, diseases, corrosive fumes, dust, laser beams, welding flashes, and molten metal are more examples of causes of eye injuries. For the best possible chance of recovery, it is important to call a doctor immediately after an injury to the eyes.
Traumatic Iritis is one result of a physical eye injury (like a poke or hit to the eye) and it is when the iris is inflamed. Non-penetrating eye trauma is where there was force or physical harm that happened to the eye(s) but the eye is still intact and in place. Penetrating eye trauma, though, is where an object has entered the eye. Perforating eye trauma is where an object has entered and exited the eye. A blowout fracture of the eye is much more traumatic and happens due to blunt forces like a fist or a ball.
Other effects of eye injuries include orbital fractures, blood in the eye, corneal abrasions, eyelid lacerations, arc eye, snow blindness, traumatic optic neuropathy, orbital fractures, and hemorrhaging. It is also possible for a flying object, blunt force or a piece of equipment to poke your eye out. In any case as traumatic and critical as this, it is definitely recommended to have someone call 911 immediately. Some complications that arise due to eye injuries include corneal scarring, retinal detachment, and post-traumatic glaucoma.
Black eyes get their color from the swelling that happens around the eye(s) after an injury to the head, face or eyes. It does not actually signal an eye injury (but the eye could be injured as well). Black eyes are also known as ecchymosis.
Eye injuries can be very painful and disorienting for the eye injury victim. The signs of an eye injury include pain, bruising around the eye, double vision, tearing, eye redness, inability to keep the eye open, sensitivity to light, swelling, temporary blindness, and the inability or difficulty to move the injured eye.
For chemical eye injuries, sterile water is usually used to flush the eye injury. For physical eye injuries, patches are one common treatment device. There are two types: pressure and shield patches. Pressure patches are used when the goal is to keep tension on the eye and to keep the patient from opening their eye. Shield patches are used when it is OK for the patient to open their eye under the patch and there is a desire to not put pressure on the injured eye. Stitching the eyes is a possible treatment for eye lacerations. Eye surgery may be needed for fractures of the eye or orbit.
There are many types of eye surgeries and the technology improves every year. Some of the more common eye surgeries are cataract surgery, glaucoma surgery, canaloplasty, corneal surgery, vitreoretinal surgery, eye muscle surgery, oculoplastic surgery (or reconstructing the eye), and eyelid surgery.
Laser eye surgeries that improve the patient’s vision to a point that they do not need their regular glasses are becoming very popular. There are even surgeries to try to repair astigmatism, to implant contact lenses, and much more. But, even with improving technology, these procedures do not always go perfectly and side-effects or failed eye surgeries can be very painful and can have severe results for our vision and eyes (like double vision). Be sure to call our firm so we can evaluate your case.
Our eyes need our retina to interpret what it sees and convert that into neural impulses. This crucial part of the eye can peel off or detach after an injury, trauma or swelling. It requires immediate medical attention as retinal detachments could lead to blindness.
It is critical that you take action very quickly to treat eye injuries as the majority of eye injuries treatments have a greater rate of success if seen sooner. This is also true for your legal representation so call us today to set up your free consultation and case evaluation. At the meeting, our workers’ compensation attorneys in Riverside will discuss your legal options, and what our injury law firm could do for you and your family. We work solely on a contingency basis where you will not owe or pay us anything unless we win your injury case.
A Riverside eye injury attorney at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo will still come to you at your home or your hospital room if you are unable to come to our office. We are available to meet during the normal hours of Monday through Friday between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm and we will also meet you, by appointment, on Saturdays, Sundays, and in the evening. Contact us today online or call us at (951) 977-7787.