A foreign body in your eye can be anything -

• a leaf
• an insect
• an eyelash
• a piece of wood or metal (particularly if working a trade)
• sand/dirt
• a chemical

It can make your eye feel irritated and itchy or watery and cause it to become red or inflamed.

The first step to looking after your eye is trying to flush your eye with clean water or a lubricant eye drop. If this doesn't help, call an optometrist asap so they can remove the object. If the object isn't removed quickly, it may cause extended irritation, scratches to the front of the eye, or an infection.

If a chemical splashes in your eye, make sure to flush your eye for half an hour and see an optometrist immediately.

Usually the process of removing the object is straight forward and painless and, we can provide ongoing advice for the recovery of your eye (such as eye drops or gels and follow-up appointments if required).

Book in now if you're reading this with something in your eye - we want to see you!