What Causes Watery Eyes Along With Redness?

Posted on Mon, 27 Mar 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 Answered on

Thu, 13 Apr 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : I accidentally wiped my eye with a small piece of chewing tobacco on it and I'm afraid it went into my eye. I flushed my eye out with saline and I didn't see any particulates, my eye is burning but is slowly going away. Ive cleaned it with XXXXXXX for about 20 mins then used cold water to get the redness to go down. The pain doesn't radiate and the pain is a 2/10, but worries me about what could happen. Given how small it was, what could happen? And is everything okay?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
pain, watery eye, discomfort with light, gritty feeling

Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic

You seemed to have washed your eye out very well with both the saline and the cold water.

The tobacco products should have been removed.

The burning sensation would also occur due to the copious eye washing done, this can take 30mins to 1 hour to resolve.

The symptoms that would indicate that some of the tobacco products are still present are: (1) gritty or foreign body feeling in the eye after the hour

(2)watery eye

(3)pain in the eye

(4)photophobia- worse pain in the eye when looking at light

(5)some persons have altered vision

If these symptoms are present, then it may indicate that some of the tobacco is still present and you need to flush the eye again and also may need to consider seeing doctor if they persist after flushing

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar