Corneal Abrasion - Discomfort And Something Sliding In My Eye

Eight weeks ago on a trip to the US I contrived to launch a bottle of shower gel into my right eye. The next day I experienced photophobia, sharp pains, and discomfort when moving the eye around and reading things up close. A US ophthalmologist diagnosed a corneal abrasion at the six o'clock of my eye (below the iris) and prescribed antibiotic ointment for 3 days, sure I would be 100% by then. Indeed the photophobia and sharp pain cleared up quickly but the discomfort did not.

The sharp pain returned to a lesser extent three weeks after the accident so I saw a local (Singaporean) ophthalmologist. With her microscope she discovered that the initial abrasion had healed but was not securely attached from dryness, and prescribed Optive drops and Vidisic gel, which I continue to use today. Two days later my cornea looked okay under the microscope and within a week the sharp pain had gone. Unfortunately the discomfort has never gone away, and seems to have stayed at the same level since the accident. (five weeks from the beginning of lubrication treatment)

My vision remains 20/20 in both eyes, but I feel I no longer see objects up close (when reading etc.) as well or effortlessly as I used to. There is a sense of discomfort, almost like a sliding of something in the eye, when moving the right eye around and "focusing" on distant objects. Moving the eye too fast will actually cause a twinge of pain. My ophthalmologist doesn't see anything wrong with the eye and suggested that I was experiencing dry eye due to the cornea no longer being as smooth as before.

I have read up on abrasions, erosions and dry eye. Presumably I came close to experiencing an erosion just before I started the lubrication regimen. I haven't been able to find much information on dry eye after corneal abrasions.  Obviously my condition is bearable but I do hope that is temporary, perhaps with some deep layer of the cornea still healing.