Corneal Foreign Body

Corneal Foreign Body is a topic covered in the 5-Minute Emergency Consult.

To view the entire topic, please or .

Emergency Central is a collection of disease, drug, and test information including 5-Minute Emergency Medicine Consult, Davis’s Drug, McGraw-Hill Medical’s Diagnosaurus®, Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests, and MEDLINE Journals created for emergency medicine professionals. Explore these free sample topics:

-- The first section of this topic is shown below --

Basics

Description

  • Foreign material on or in the corneal epithelium
  • Corneal epithelium disrupted:
    • Abrasion if only epithelium disrupted
    • Scar if deeper layers of cornea involved

Etiology

  • Foreign material causes inflammatory reaction:
    • May develop conjunctivitis, corneal edema, iritis, necrosis
  • Poorly tolerated:
    • Organic material (plant material, insect parts)
    • Inorganic material that oxidizes (iron, copper)
  • Well tolerated:
    • Inert objects (paint, glass, plastic, fiberglass, nonoxidizing metals)

-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please or --

Basics

Description

  • Foreign material on or in the corneal epithelium
  • Corneal epithelium disrupted:
    • Abrasion if only epithelium disrupted
    • Scar if deeper layers of cornea involved

Etiology

  • Foreign material causes inflammatory reaction:
    • May develop conjunctivitis, corneal edema, iritis, necrosis
  • Poorly tolerated:
    • Organic material (plant material, insect parts)
    • Inorganic material that oxidizes (iron, copper)
  • Well tolerated:
    • Inert objects (paint, glass, plastic, fiberglass, nonoxidizing metals)

There's more to see -- the rest of this topic is available only to subscribers.