Small piece of glass under right eye lid.

[mat816]

Hey Im, Mat i'm 18 years old.

  So five days ago i broke a glass cup and small shards of glass got into my right bottom eye lid, i removed one rather large piece but i still feel like their is a small piece under my right eye lid. I went to two doctors, one urgent care doctor and an ophthalmologist and both couldn't find any sign of corneal abrasion or the glass piece i am feeling. The ophthalmologist prescribed me an antibiotic and said i have a "conjunctival cyst" however the itchiness and feeling of a foreign body has not subsided. I feel helpless sense I'm away from home and do not have the appropriate insurance to cover the extremly expensive costs of visits ($200-$300) and the doctors don't seem to care or believe me.  

My questions are: if i have a small piece of glass under my eyelid will the feeling eventually go away? will i need surgery? is my vision at risk? anyone have this happen to them or have similar story? Will i be able to make it two months before I'm back home and can get my mom and dad to help me out?

Thanks,
Mathew B.

[mat816]

Last update: after applying ointment and cleaning my eye with eye wash for the past two weeks and going to the optometrist regularly I now feel almost completely back to normal, thanks dock your diagnosis was correct, it was an old scar I'm my eyelid from a previous surgery that got infecte thanks to the glass that I removed two days after the accident my symptoms became more obvious to me in the form of a foreighn body feeling.

Much love and thanks

Mathew brown

[mat816]

Update: its been 7 days sense the accident and the feelings of the foreign body comes and goes depending on how much ointment i put in my eye, and once the ointment dries out i feel it again.Anyway when i wake up i still have discharge and the feeling of the F.b is the first thing i notice when i wake up. Im going again to the ophthalmologist tomorrow after class to see if this is normal (all my pizza money), if i do not find relief then this weekend I'm going with my Dad to Gainesville FL where my aunt works as a nurse to get another opinion.

Hopefully i could find a solution by the end of this week, ill update my experience here.

Thanks for the help doc,

Mathew Brown

[Timothy D McGarity, M.D.]

I'm very sorry you are having such difficulty. If there is truly a piece of glass, then it needs to be removed. If it is left in place, I doubt you will loose vision, but it will be very difficult to maintain normal living until this is completed. On the other hand, the foreign body sensation may not be related to a foreign body. It may be the result of medication and/or the original injury. They excluded a corneal abrasion, but you didn't mention if there was any other abrasion, such as a conjunctival abrasion which could very well cause these symptoms. This could be treated empirically by having a qualified medical personnel place antibiotic ointment in the eye, then patch it shut for 24 hours which should heal the eye. I wish you the best.
Sincerely,
Timothy D. McGarity, Medical Doctor, Ophthalmologist