Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be

talking to you about corneal abrasions. And if you want to follow along with written notes on this topic,

you can follow along at zero tofinals.com slash corneal abrasions or in the ophthalmology section of the zero definals medicine book.

So let's get straight into it.

Corneal abrasions are scratches or damage to the cornea of the eye and they cause a red, painful eye.

The common causes of cornea abrasions are contact lenses, foreign bodies, finger nails,

particularly young kids who've managed to scratch their parents' eyes using their small fingernails.

They can also be caused by eyelashes or entropion, which is inward turned eyelids.

If the abrasion is associated with the use of contact lenses, there may be an infection with a bug

called pseudomonas.

An important differential diagnosis to consider for corneal abrasions is herpes keratitis, and this will require treatment with antiviral eye drops.

So how does a corneal abrasion present? Well there may be a history of contact lens use or a foreign

body in the eye. The patient will present with a painful red eye with a foreign body sensation in the eye.

There may be a watering eye, there may be blurred vision and photophobia.

How do we diagnose a corneal abrasion?

Well a fluorescentine stain can be applied to the eye in order to help diagnose the corneal abrasion.

And this is an orange yellow-colored stain that collects in any indents in the eye,

such as from abrasions or ulcers.

And this highlights any damage to the surface of the eye,

which will show up with more of the orange-yellow colour of the stain.

Slit lamp examination can also be used to diagnose more significant abrasions.

So what's the management of a corneal abrasion?

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