UrgentMed treats pink eye, styes and other eye infections, scratched eyes, something stuck in the eye and minor eye injuries at both Broward clinics, in Davie and Plantation — walk in seven days a week, or check in online to hold your place. Every eye visit starts with a vision check on an eye chart; the eye is then examined with a slit lamp, and a drop of fluorescein dye under a blue light shows a scratch or a particle that the naked eye misses.
Pink eye (conjunctivitis) and eye infections
Red, itchy, watery or crusted eyes are most often pink eye — conjunctivitis — caused by a virus, by bacteria or by an allergy, and the cause decides the treatment. Antibiotic eye drops or ointment are prescribed when the cause is bacterial; antibiotics do not help viral pink eye, and allergy eye drops treat the allergic kind. Viral and bacterial pink eye spread easily, so wash your hands often and do not share towels. Leave contact lenses out until the eye has healed. If you need a note for school or work, it is written at the same visit (doctor’s notes).
Styes
A stye is a small, painful lump at the edge of the eyelid, usually from a bacterial infection at the base of an eyelash. Do not squeeze or pop it — that can spread the infection into the eyelid — and skip eye makeup and contact lenses until it settles. Warm compresses at home help it drain on its own. At the visit the eyelid and the eye are examined, an antibiotic is prescribed when the stye is infected, and a stye that affects your vision or does not go away is referred to an ophthalmologist.
Scratched eye (corneal abrasion)
A fingernail, a contact lens, a branch or blowing dust can scratch the clear front of the eye, the cornea. It hurts, waters and is sensitive to light, and it often feels as if something is still in the eye. Your vision is checked first; then fluorescein dye and the slit lamp show the scratch, and the visit ends with the drops or ointment it needs and what to watch for. Do not rub the eye, and leave contact lenses out until it has healed.
Something in the eye
Dust, sand, an eyelash or a small flake of metal: do not rub. Blinking and tears often clear a small particle. If they do not, the eye is flushed with saline at the clinic and a loose particle on the surface is removed, then the dye shows whether it left a scratch. An object stuck in the eye, or one that has gone into it, is different: leave it in place, do not press on the eye, and go to the emergency room.
Chemical splash in the eye
Start rinsing at once, wherever you are: a gentle stream of clean, cool tap water, head tilted so the water runs away from the other eye, and keep rinsing. Then get emergency care — call 911, or Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. Any chemical in the eye needs to be seen right away. If a splash happens at or near the clinic, the eye is flushed here immediately and the referral to the emergency room or an ophthalmologist is arranged.
A blow to the eye or a black eye
After a ball, an elbow or a fall, hold a clean, cool compress gently against the eye without pressing on it. At the visit your vision and eye movement are checked and the eye is examined with the slit lamp; when a break in the bones around the eye is a concern, an X-ray of the face is taken in the building. Blood inside the eye, double vision or loss of vision is an emergency-room problem.
Eye injuries at work (workers’ comp)
Dust, metal flakes and chemical splashes on the job are treated at both clinics under Florida workers’ compensation. Tell the front desk it is a work injury; we contact your employer or the adjuster for authorization while you are being seen, and the DWC-25 is completed at every visit.
When to go to the emergency room instead
- Sudden loss of vision, or blurred or double vision that does not clear
- Severe eye pain, or eye pain with a headache or nausea
- Any chemical in the eye
- Something stuck in the eye or a cut to the eyeball
- Blood inside the eye, or bleeding that will not stop
Call 911 for any of these. For everything else on this page, walk in at either clinic.
Walk in at either clinic
Eye care is the same at UrgentMed Davie and UrgentMed Plantation, open seven days a week. Most health plans are accepted; pink eye, styes and eye injuries are also among the illnesses and injuries we treat.
Sources: CDC — About Pink Eye (reviewed 2024-04-15) · CDC — How to Treat Pink Eye (reviewed 2024-04-15) · American Academy of Ophthalmology — What Are Chalazia and Styes? · MedlinePlus — Corneal injury (reviewed 2024-07-09) · MedlinePlus — Eye emergencies