Skip to main content

Urgent Emergency Eye Care in Toronto

We are always willing to help at Bay College Optometric Centre, should you ever experience any eye emergency. Using our state of the art equipment, our offices provide emergency services for eye injuries, eye infections and other eye emergencies. In addition to the services we already offer you, such as routine eye exams, contact lenses, designer frames and eyeglasses.
Our optometrist is available to help with issues such as:

  • Sore, uncomfortable, red, or itchy eyes
  • Removal of foreign materials from the eye (such as metal or wood)
  • Treatment of "pink eye" and other bacterial infections
  • Sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes
  • Lost or broken contact lenses or eyeglasses
  • Eye trauma
  • Scratched eyes
  • Treatment of eye allergies or burns
  • “Floaters” in the vision
  • Dislodged contact lenses
  • Emergency eye care

Our package is convenient and cost effective for you and your family and be rest assured that you are receiving treatment from one of the best eye care specialists in the city.

Researches have shown that a great number of eye-related Emergency room visits could have been averted if urgent care was administered earlier by an optometrist. Most common emergency room visits range from foreign bodies to eye infections, to severe eye allergies. You don’t have to visit the ER for eye emergencies. We are well equipped at Bay College Optometric Centre to treat most eye-related emergencies.

When you encounter symptoms such as those listed above, it means you need an immediate evaluation or consultation. Please give us a call so we can set it up immediately.

toronto logo

Common Activities that Cause Eye Emergencies

A research was conducted by the US National Library of Medicine, studied 3150 patients with eye conditions in 2007. According to the findings, work-related injuries were the most common causes of eye emergencies. These are traumatic emergencies caused by activities such metal filings blunt trauma, fireworks and sharp objects and approximately 96% of the patient percentage had globe injury. Patients in the study who were referred due to non-traumatic reasons such as eye infections were slightly less in number. The approximate ratio of the finding is 60:40. Unprotected eyes during high-risk activities such as sports and certain jobs are risk factors that cause eye injuries. For patients referred for non-traumatic reasons, a considerable proportion was due to eye infection, most likely connected to age, poor management of one’s health and the increasing use of contact lenses.

beautiful face woman pastel
man rubbing eyes 1280x480
Woman Serious Pretty Eyes 1280×480

Corneal abrasions or scratched eye is the most common form of eye injuries. Scratched eyes occur when you rub your eyes excessively after you feel something stuck in your eyes. A small scratch in the eye can lead to an infection or a fungus outbreak. It is therefore important to see your optometrist as soon as possible.

Sore or itchy eyes are often symptoms of an eye allergy. Though you may feel uncomfortable, they may not pose any major danger to the wellbeing of your eyes. But as relieved as you may feel knowing this, the symptoms still are so unpleasant that it can make your vacation unbearable. Our Optometrists are expert at treating eye allergies.

But besides eye allergies, there are other common reasons why you may have these symptoms. Have you been wearing your contact lenses for too long? If you are having additional symptoms of burning or red eyelids, it could mean you have MGD, dry eyes disease or Blepharitis. Call our practice immediately or visit any of our Eye care centers for more information.

Subconjunctival hemorrhage is what this is also called. Also referred to as eye bleeding or popped blood vessel in the white of the eyes, this is one of the most common eye injuries occurring from a number of causes, including light impact to the eye. While it could be an emergency situation in most cases, it may also be an added symptom to a condition, or will just heal by itself.

Do you have swollen eyes? Most times, it is worse than it seems. You may get a black eye from sports or some other impact to the eye surrounding. While you should not be scared, we recommend you visit your eye doctor to ensure there was no damage or any internal swelling to your eye.

Chemical burns in the eyes require immediate medical care. If you have a chemical burn, remember to tilt your head and continuously flush your eyes with water as you drive to the medical facility or wait for an ambulance. Remove any contact lens you may have on your eyes. Most chemical burns will not leave long term harm if treated promptly, however it is important that you take a chemical burn seriously as some chemicals (such as alkaline based cleaners) can permanently damage your eyesight.

Contact Lens Stuck In the Eye

When you have contacts stuck in your eyes, you can try getting it out the following ways:

  1. For soft contacts, first wash your hands thoroughly, and then try to determine the contact’s location. Sometimes it dries out when you sleep wearing it. Rinse the stuck contact with sterile saline or contact rewetting drops. Close your eyes and massage your upper lid gently until you can feel the lens move, then open your eyes and get it out normally. If the contact is stuck anywhere but the center of the eyes, close your eyes and look in the opposite direction of where it is located before massaging to remove it.
  2. Some contacts are gas permeable (GP contact lens). You don’t massage your eye lid in this one to prevent the rigid GP from abrasing the eyes. You use the pad of your finger tip to press the outer edge of the lens to break the suction that glues the contact to the eye, or you use a small contact suction cup to press on the concave of the lens until it adheres to the cup, then take it out.
  3. Sometimes none of these techniques work. Call your eye doctor immediately to arrange for its removal.

Most Common Eye Emergencies

Floaters are small clouds or specks moving in your field of vision. You see them more clearly when you look at a plain background, such as a white surface or a blank wall. Floaters are tiny clumps of gel or cells inside the vitreous, the clear jelly-like fluid that fills the inside of your eye. Floaters come in different shapes, such as circles, little dots, clouds, or cobwebs.

Flashes happens when the vitreous gel inside your pulls or rubs on the retina. This produces  what looks like flashing lights or lightening streaks. This is the sensation you experience when you get hit in the eye and see "stars."

If you have floaters and flashes, you should see your ophthalmologist for evaluation and possible treatment.

Stye (medically called hordeolum or hordeola (plural)) is a very common type of eyelid infection. They usually develop quite quickly, over a few days. Styes usually affect one eye only, although you can also develop more than one stye at a time. There are two types of stye: Internal stye (uncommon type) and external styes (the common type).

No treatment is often necessary for styles. Once the style has formed a 'head', burst within 3-4 days, and you’ll see the tiny amount of pus draining away and leaving no further problem. Also to help to ease soreness and manually draw the pus to a head, hold a clean flannel, which has been dipped in hot water and squeezed it dry, then gently but firmly place it against the closed eye for 5-10 minutes, 3-4 times a day.

The cornea is the front window of the eye. A corneal laceration is a cut on the cornea. It usually happens when something sharp flies into the eye or when something like metallic or hand tool strikes the eye with force. A corneal laceration is deeper than a corneal abrasion, and cuts partially or fully through the cornea. A deeper corneal cut can cause a full thickness laceration, rupturing the globe and tearing the eyeball itself.

A cut in the eye is a very serious injury that requires immediate medical attention to avoid vision loss.

Here are some steps to take if your eyes have been injured:

  •        Place a shield gently over the eye to protect it. Tape the bottom part of a paper cup to the area around the eye to protect your eye until you get medical help.
  •        do not rinse with water
  •        do not remove the object stuck in your eye
  •        do not rub or apply any pressure to eye
  •        Do not take ibuprofen, aspirin or other non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs. These drugs may thin the blood and increase bleeding.

Once you’re done protecting the eye, rush to the emergency room and see a physician immediately.

little boy getting eyes checked

Sudden loss of vision develops within a few minutes to a couple of days. It may affect one or both eyes, part or all of a field of vision. There are quite a number of reasons why one may experience a sudden vision loss. When there is a problems at any point along the visual pathway from the eyes to the brain, vision loss occurs. Sudden vision loss is an emergency. When one suffers loss, vision may become blurry or cloudy, completely absent, or affected by flash of lights or specks in the visual field (floaters). You should contact a doctor immediately to commence a course of treatment.

giles playing lacrose

Compete At A Higher Level With Sports Vision Therapy

2020 eyesight and good hand-eye coordination are not enough to maintain peak performance for sports. We tend to underestimate the complexity and challenge posed to our visual system when we try to hit a ball moving at 65-80 miles per hour. Sports Vision Training uses the principals of vision therapy in research-backed therapy that improves sports performance through improving skills such as:

  • Better hand-eye coordination
  • Improved depth perception and estimation
  • Faster reaction times
  • Vision and balance
  • Precise eye movement and tracking

For more information about these services contact your Vision Therapy Eye Doctor at.

toronto logo

  • Did you know your optometrist can help you with red eyes, pink eye, sore eyes, foreign body removal and eye emergencies?
  • Our eye doctors have the latest technology and lots of experience with eye infections, scratched eye, something stuck in your eye, painful or stinging eyes and many other types of eye infections.

  • Please fill in the form below to setup an appointment.
  • Please provide a reason for your appointment. Details are stored securely and not sent by email.
  • Please let us know when you would prefer to have your appointment. Our hours are listed on our location page.
    Please let us know if you are a new or existing patient.
  • :
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.