There are three levels of eye emergencies:
It is important to seek appropriate and timely treatment for eye problems to avoid visual impairments. True emergencies must be treated within minutes. There are really only two true emergencies of the eye: chemical burns, which occur when caustic solutions are splashed into the eyeretinal artery occlusion, which causes sudden painless loss of vision in one eye when the main artery to the retina is blocked
Urgent situations require therapy to be started within hours. Some examples include: acute glaucoma, which is a sudden rise in pressure in the eyeball that causes pain and decreased visioncellulitis, an infection of the eye socket that causes pain and swellingcorneal abrasions, or scratches on the cornea, often caused by a foreign bodycorneal ulcers, which are small painful sores on the corneaendophthalmitis, an infection inside the eye that causes sudden severe eye pain and visual impairmenthyphema, that is, bleeding in the front chamber of the eye caused by blunt traumairitis, an inflammation of the iris that causes acute eye pain, redness, and sensitivity to lightlid lacerations, that is, cuts on the upper or lower eyelidpenetrating injury of the eyeball by a foreign bodyretinal detachments and tears, which cause a sudden onset of flashing lights or floaters and a shadow over part of the field of vision
Semiurgent situations require therapy to be started within days or a few weeks. Some examples include: exophthalmos, that is, a bulging of the eyeball with an appearance of staringfractures of the facial bones that involve the eye socketmuscle imbalances in the eyeoptic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve that causes sudden blurring and/or dimming of vision in one or both eyestumors of the eye, optic nerve, or orbit
