I am training for IM Texas on April 22 but last weekend I took a mop handle to the eye last Saturday and my cornea is completely detached. Been to the eye doctor 3 times and going back monday but he acted like it would be a long healing process. He did not place any restcictions on me and I am back to work as it is feeling better just uncomfortable. I did and easy half hour on the bike last night but other than that I havent trained since a 3 hour ride on Saturday before it happened.
Has anyone had experience with this?
Was planning on keeping it easy and maybe jumping back into training next week but I also want to make sure it heals as quickly as possible.
Shouuld I wait a little longer to let it heal before I jump back into hard training?
Side not - My training had been going great and I was feeling more confindent in my bike than ever. Not a strong swimmer so already scared that I havent been in the water all week
Any help is appreciated
Either wait for EyeRunMD to see this or send him a PM. He’s pretty active here.
See if you can get your last medical note from the doc’s office that treated you. As boilerup stated, “detachment†is typically reserved for other parts of the eye besides the cornea. If you were struck in the eye with a broom handle, I’d imagine you likely have a corneal abrasion and/or a hyphema (blood in the front part of the eye). There’s a big difference in how these two are treated, and activity allowed, so it would be nice to know a more precise diagnosis
It was a large corneal abrasion. At least at first but woke up after day 2 and the new healing tissue had peeled off and was super painful. Went to optometrist and he scraped the outter layer off which was traumatising lol. (cant remember what he called this layer but it did have a name) I have been using Muro 128 ointment before bed now and was using the drops 4 times a day. He took the protective contact that was in out this morning and he said the cornea had grown back and was healing nicely. I am now pain free and have been back to training since friday just going easy with everything but I dont think it should affenct my training much more than maybe be a little annoying sometimes.
However I did crash my bike Saturday and am still super sore. It seems my brain quits working after about 3 hours of riding as both of these accidents have occurred after a 3 hour ride lol
It sounds like you have had good care from an optometrist, which is fine. Im an ophthalmologist in Utah and have treated many patients similar to your situation. You are fine to train and stay on the Muro ointment. It can take up to a month or two for the corneal epithelium to heal completely. Some patients in your situation continue to have the epithelium sluff off due to basement membrane instability. If this happens again you could consider going to an ophthalmologist and having a corneal polish (usually an office procedure), which usually fixes the issue going forward, but it would reset the clock with the healing unfortunately.
Thanks for the reply
Yes he did say it was possible for the epithelium to not bind properly and to continue using the ointment for at least 2 more months but as for now everything feels ok compared to what i went though last week
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I see what you meant by corneal detachment now…….your epithelium sloughed off and hurt again. As bricewilliams said, sounds like you are getting good care for this situation. If a person has never had a corneal abrasion, they cannot imagine how painful it can be. Best of luck with your healing (and training)