I am an electrician and also do machine shop type work. I am 55 years old, male. In the course of my work I some how got a piece of grit embedded in my left eye near the outer edge of the iris. It is clearly visible and is very irritating. I have tried to remove it by using a q-tip and other soft things with no luck. The grit has been in my eye for over two weeks now and my question is do you have any suggestions as to how to get it out or is it possible that my eye will eventually force it out. I can’t have anybody touch my eye, it’s too difficult. The grit could be some kind of metal that appears to be embedded in my eye. If I had the nerve I know I could pluck it out with a pair of tweezers.

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Dr. Joshua’s Answer:

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I’m afraid you’ll have to make the trip to the doctor’s. The problem with metal objects in the eye is that they oxidize and form a rust ring, and even if you could pluck it out, you would leave the rust and the eye would not recover. The rust needs to be removed, too, and that requires the hands and instruments of a doctor and application of a local anesthetic. So - in order to avoid permanent damage to the eye, go see your doctor. Your primary care physician can do the trick. If he is unable to remove it all, he’ll refer you to the eye doc. You’ll also need some local antibiotic ointment to protect the eye for a couple of days. There is no need for patching. After the foreign object and the rust ring has been removed, the eye will heal just fine.

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