Ocular Surface and Reconstructive Surgery

Abstract

Foreign bodies present a risk of infection and must be removed promptly. It is useful to establish the likely timescale and nature of the foreign body. The history will help to establish whether the object is likely to be superficial or penetrating.

Debris blown by the wind or falling on the eye is likely to cause a superficial foreign body which becomes attached via surface tension and adherent to the mucin layer and epithelial cells. Grinding injuries are common and may occur despite the user wearing a protective visor. The tiny metallic projectiles generated strike the eye at relatively low velocity and become embedded in the surface rather than penetrating. They tend to be hot and therefore often sterile, however, which allows them to fuse with superficial corneal tissue. A high-velocity fragment (such as is generated when chiselling stone or by metal-on-metal contact) would be more likely to penetrate through the cornea and results in an intraocular foreign body.