SafetyUrgent symptoms
General Warning Signs
Universal symptoms after eye care that should not be ignored.
Medical disclaimer
This guidance is general patient education. Always follow the specific instructions given by your own surgeon or eye doctor — they take priority over anything on this page.
Do
- Seek urgent medical care for severe or sudden symptoms.
- Contact your eye clinic if symptoms occur after surgery or a procedure.
- Follow emergency instructions from your healthcare provider.
- Bring a list of medications and recent procedures if seeking urgent care.
- Protect the eye from water, rubbing, pressure, and trauma after surgery or procedures.
- Use eye drops only as instructed.
- Keep the drop bottle tip clean.
Don't
- Do not wait for sudden vision loss to improve on its own.
- Do not rub an injured eye.
- Do not put pressure on the eye.
- Do not delay care for chemical exposure, severe pain, or a curtain-like shadow.
- Do not let water enter the eye after surgery or an eye procedure until cleared.
- Do not look directly at the sun.
- Do not look directly at welding, soldering arcs, lasers, or intense bright light sources.
- Do not use anesthetic/numbing eye drops unless prescribed directly for you.
- Do not use eye drops that were not prescribed directly for you.
- Do not use another person’s eye drops.
- Do not share eye drops.
Warning signs — contact the clinic urgently
- Sudden vision loss
- Severe eye pain
- Increasing redness
- New flashes of light
- Many new floaters
- Curtain or shadow in vision
- Pus or severe swelling
- Sudden double vision
- Chemical exposure to the eye
- Eye trauma or injury
- Severe headache with vision changes
- New unequal pupils
- Contact lens-related pain, redness, or light sensitivity
- Water, soap, shampoo, dirty water, or chemicals entered the eye after surgery or an eye procedure
- Eye rubbing, pressure, bumping, or trauma after surgery or an eye procedure
- Eye drop bottle tip touched eyelashes, eyelids, the eye surface, fingers, skin, tissue, or another surface and the eye becomes more red, painful, swollen, or has discharge
- Looking directly at welding, soldering arcs, lasers, or intense bright light followed by pain, redness, tearing, blurred vision, or light sensitivity
- Using anesthetic/numbing eye drops without direct prescription
- Using another person’s eye drops
- Worsening symptoms after using non-prescribed drops
When to call the clinic
- Any time symptoms are sudden, severe, worsening, or different from the expected recovery instructions.
- Any time the user is unsure after eye surgery, injection, or laser procedure.
- If water, soap, shampoo, chemicals, or dirty water entered the eye after surgery or a procedure.
- If the eye was rubbed strongly, pressed, bumped, or injured.
- If the drop bottle tip may have been contaminated and the eye becomes more red, painful, swollen, or has discharge.
- If symptoms worsen after bright light exposure or unprescribed drops.
Have questions about your eyes?
This information is general education and does not replace a professional eye examination. If you are worried about your eyes, book an appointment.