When a patient complains of eye pain asking the right questions often helps determine the cause of the pain. This makes the diagnosis and treatment easier. It is helpful to distinguish between eye pain caused by external factors such as a foreign body on the surface of the eye and internal pain caused by elevated intraocular pressure or internal ocular inflammation.

External Causes of Eye Pain

Material such as dust particles, metal fragments, cat hairs, and eyelashes feel like there is a particle in the eye. These are easy to find and remove. They can cause a scratchy feeling in the eye. Sometimes a foreign body is lodged under the inside surface of the upper lid and can only be removed by everting the upper lid. If the foreign body is embedded in the cornea it can cause a corneal abrasion.  A corneal abrasion feels like there is something in the eye. Dry eye can also cause external irritation and dry eye patients often complain of burning and feeling something in their eyes. Dry eye, superficial corneal or conjunctival foreign bodies rarely cause blurred vision or photophobia (light sensitivity). External irritation associated with photophobia and/or blurred vision suggest a more serious condition such as a corneal ulcer. A sty can also cause a foreign body sensation.

Internal Causes of Eye Pain

Episcleritis is an inflammation of the outer layer of the sclera, the white of the eye. This often presents with localized redness and tenderness to touch. Uveitis, an inflammation of the inner eye is associated with eye pain. The pain is usually felt inside the eye and does not feel like there is something in the eye. Inflammation of the front portion of the inner eye is called iritis and causes photophobia. Optic neuritis, an inflammation of the optic nerve, is associated with pain on eye movement.

Other Causes of Eye Pain

Migraine, sinus disease, and glaucoma can also cause eye pain. Even eye strain from wearing the wrong eyeglass or contact lens prescription can cause eye pain. Pain following eye surgery can be a sign of infection and requires immediate attention. Pain following trauma to the eye can also indicate a serious condition.

causes light sensitvity

• Senator Barak Obama Has A Head Tilt August 18, 2008 Noah Klein, MD Noah Klein, MD, PC   Senator Barak Obama Has a Right Head Tilt    Watching the Saddleback Church Forum with Pastor Rick Warren interviewing Senator Barack Obama on Saturday August 16, I was struck by the marked and obvious tilting of the Senator’s head......
• BLEPHARITIS Blepharitis is an inflammation of the eyelids. Patients often complain of red eyes, eye irritation, itching, foreign body sensation (feeling of something in the eye), ocular discharge, crusting and flaking of the eyelashes. Some get red pimples on the eyelid and refer to them as styes. Get more information here. Most......
• Contact Lens Irritation Part 1: Contact Lens Solution Dr. Noah Klein Noah Klein MD, PC Many patients present to my office complaining of eye redness, eye irritation,  and a foreign body sensation (feeling of grit or sand in the eye) when wearing their soft contact lenses. They feel this way even when they try on a brand new pair......
• Computer Vision Problems Computer glasses and eye strain computer vision syndrome   Do your eyes hurt or burn when looking at a computer screen? Do they tear, or feel tired after hours of computer use? Do you get headaches after staring at a CRT or LCD computer screen? Do you have neck or......
• WHAT IS GLAUCOMA? WHAT IS GLAUCOMA? Glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve often associated with increased intraocular pressure (IOP). Elevated IOP alone is not enough to make the diagnoses of glaucoma. Some patients may have glaucoma when their IOP is within normal limits. This is called Normal Tension Glaucoma (NTG). Conversely......
• Contact Lens Irritation Part 2: Dry Eye Dry eye is a very common cause of contact lens problems and contact lens intolerance. It causes wearers to feel as if there is something in their eyes, a foreign body sensation in their eyes, as if there is grit or dirt in the eye, and eye pain when......
• Conjunctival Hemorrhage - Blood in the Eye One of the most frequent "emergency" visits in my office is due to a conjunctival hemorrhage. This is what it looks like: /caption] Although this looks dramatic and scary it is quite harmless most of the time especially if not accompanied by any discomfort and without a history of trauma......

• Exercising With a Cold - Is It OK? I hate colds! They put such a damper on daily activities. I'm experiencing the joyful symptoms of one right now. I’ve got an itchy, sneezing, runny nose, and my head feels like it's stuffed with cotton. But I’m drinking my fluids and taking cold medicine. The question is: Can I......
• Buffet Thinks The Dollar Will Continue To Slide The Wall Street Journal had an article that Buffet is buying foreign companies now. Berkshire recently bought Israeli car manufacturer Iscar and it looks like that just the beginning.The continuing weakness of the dollar despite higher rates strengthened his view that Berkshire needed to invest in companies and securities overseas......
• Scapegoats Is shame basically instilling guilt? Shame is the belief in guilt and "justified" treatment of the guilty party. There is no justification. What can I get from punishing anyone? Have you gotten anything from punishing anyone? Actually, it just feeds my negativity. Usually makes me feel worse. Yes, and them......
• Physical Psionics A psionic example is comparing psionics to shamanism. A shaman speaks to the spirits of animals and can receive communications from these spirits. The spirits a shaman communicates with are the "higher self" of the animal, and the animal spirit reasons like a higher self. Animal spirits are very wise.......
• How to Buy Running Sneakers Perfect for You Every runner has a different way in which they run. Is there any wonder there are so many different kinds of running sneakers on the market? The industry has tried to create a different kind of shoe for every kind of running style. They have also tried to keep in......
• Causes of a Heavy Menstrual Period From time to time, all of us experience what we perceive to be a heavy menstrual period, or unusually heavy bleeding during the period of our menstruation. Fortunately, what we often believe to be abnormally heavy menstrual period bleeding is actually not excessive enough that it needs to be diagnosed......
• How To Get Great “People Pictures” In Digital Photography - How To Prevent Or Decrease Red-Eye One of the things people request me most about Digital Cameras Online is how to take perfect “people pictures.” Digital photography is great for people because you can simply delete the ones you don’t like, and show them, on the spot, what the digital photo looks like. In any digital......