Patient information

Eye emergencies: call the office

Flashes of light, a shower of black dots, a dark veil spreading? These are signs that call for a dilated eye exam without delay: making the call is a matter of hours. Monday through Friday, the front desk will try to open up an emergency slot for you, in Cachan or in Paris 13.

Cachan · +33 1 45 47 08 11 Paris 13 · +33 1 89 31 30 60

One situation comes before everything else: call 15 (SAMU)

If the visual disturbance comes with a neurological sign — trouble speaking, weakness in one arm or one leg, a drooping face, dizziness, or a sudden and unusual headache — call 15 without going through us.

A sudden drop in vision together with these signs may be a stroke. There, time is counted in minutes, and the care needed is neurological before it is ophthalmological.

The one reason that cannot wait

Retinal detachment: recognize it, then call

Retinal detachment does not hurt. It does not make the eye red. It announces itself through three signs that can be mistaken for tiredness:

  • Flashes of light, like a camera flash off to the side of your field of vision, especially in the dark.
  • A sudden shower of black dots or strands, far more numerous than usual.
  • A veil, a shadow or a black curtain that takes over part of your field of vision and keeps spreading.
  1. Normal visionThe retina lines the back of the eye and sends the image to the brain.
  2. Flashes of lightBrief arcs at the edge of your vision: the vitreous is pulling on the retina.
  3. FloatersA shower of dark spots and strands: a tear is possible.
  4. Dark veilAn opaque shadow comes down like a curtain: the retina is detaching.
  5. Eye emergencyThe veil is moving toward the center. Call the office right away.
Simulation: what an eye whose retina is detaching sees, in five stages. Actual signs vary from one person to another.

The dark veil means the retina is already detaching. Flashes and the shower of black dots, on their own, often mean a tear has just occurred: caught in time, it is treated with a laser during a consultation, which greatly reduces the risk of detachment.

The pathway, from the phone call to the operating room

  1. You book an emergency slot, on Doctolib or by phone — or you come to the office in person. These signs are a priority: we look for a place for you the same day.
  2. Dilated eye exam and OCT on site, at both offices. That is what makes it possible to say, the same day, whether this is a tear or a detachment that has already formed.
  3. Tear without detachment: argon laser at the Paris 13 office, during a consultation.
  4. Detachment confirmed: I operate on you at the Clinique Sainte-Geneviève (Paris 14th). The aim is surgery the same day, and at the latest within 48 to 72 hours.

This time frame is not a matter of scheduling convenience: a detachment spreads. The more ground it gains, the more complex the surgery and the more uncertain the outcome. That is why a retinal detachment is not put on a waiting list.

Cachan office

1 Ter rue Camille Desmoulins, 94230 Cachan

+33 1 45 47 08 11

Open Monday through Friday

Diabet’ office, Paris 13

12 rue du Moulin des Prés, 75013 Paris

+33 1 89 31 30 60

Open Monday through Friday

What happens when you call

Emergency slots are set aside Monday through Friday, and there are three ways to get one — in this order:

  1. On Doctolib, by choosing an emergency reason for visit. This is the fastest way, and the slot is confirmed immediately. Book an emergency slot on Doctolib
  2. By phone, if all the emergency reasons for visit are already taken online. Describe what you are feeling and since when: that is what allows the front desk to gauge how urgent it is and, if need be, to open up a place.
  3. By coming to the office in person, if you get neither a slot online nor an answer on the phone. Do not stay at home with a veil that is spreading.

Both offices have an OCT scanner and perform the dilated eye exam, which makes it possible to settle most retinal situations on the spot. The argon laser, which seals off a tear before the retina detaches, is available at the Paris 13 office.

I cannot guarantee a time frame: it depends on the day and on the nature of the problem. If your situation goes beyond what can be done at the office — an eye wound, surgery that cannot wait — I refer you to the appropriate department, with the diagnosis already made.

Which sign, how soon

This table gives the time frame within which you should call — not to be confused with the time frame for surgery, which is 48 to 72 hours for a confirmed detachment. A sudden, painless loss of vision in one eye is also a matter of hours: call without waiting, even with no other sign. When in doubt, call: the front desk will point you in the right direction; it is not for you to decide.

Time frameSignsWhere
Right nowVisual disturbance with a neurological sign: trouble speaking, limb weakness, facial droop, dizziness, sudden and unusual headacheSAMU 15
Right nowChemical burn — household product, caustic soda, ammonia, cement, lime. Rinsing comes before calling.Rinse at least 15 minthen call the office
Same daySudden loss of vision in one eye · very painful red eye with blurred vision and halos · eye woundOfficeclosed? hospital emergency room
Within 24 hoursSigns of retinal detachment: veil or black curtain · flashes with a shower of black dots. Also: severe eye pain · sudden-onset double visionOfficepriority reason for visit
24 to 72 hoursNew floaters · recent distortion of straight lines · vision declining over a few days · persistent, moderate eye rednessOffice
1 to 2 weeksPersistent chalazion · lingering conjunctivitis · dry eye · long-standing, stable discomfortScheduled appointment

If the office is closed: evenings, weekends, public holidays

Three departments in the Île-de-France region take eye emergencies 24 hours a day, with no appointment. You can go there directly. Check the entrance: it is not always the same depending on the time of day.

  • Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital

    28 rue de Charenton, 75012 Paris — enter through Door 9

    01 40 02 16 80 · open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

  • Fondation Adolphe de Rothschild Hospital

    29 rue Manin Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — 27 rue Manin evenings, weekends and public holidays, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. 75019 Paris

    01 48 03 65 65 · open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

  • OphtalmoPôle de Paris — Cochin Hospital, AP-HP

    8 rue Méchain, 75014 Paris — Blaise Pascal building

    01 58 41 23 00 · open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

What to do in the first few minutes

Chemical splash

Rinse before you call. At least 15 minutes under lukewarm running water, holding the eyelids open, moving the eye in every direction. Do not try to neutralize the product with another one: you rinse, that is all. Rinsing takes priority over the trip to the office or to the emergency room — start right away, call afterwards, and take the product label with you. Splashes of alkalis (caustic soda, ammonia, cement, lime) are the most serious.

Injury with an open wound

Do not rinse, do not press, do not remove anything. If a foreign body is lodged in the eye, it is left in place. Protect the eye with a rigid shield or, failing that, the bottom of a plastic cup taped on without pressing. Do not eat or drink, in case anesthesia turns out to be needed. An eye wound is a matter for the operating room: call the office and we will refer you immediately; if you get no answer, go straight to a hospital eye emergency room.

Feeling of a foreign body on the surface of the eye

Dust, a grain of sand, a fleck thrown off while grinding: rinse with sterile saline and blink. Do not rub — rubbing turns a minor irritation into a corneal abrasion. If the sensation lasts beyond a few hours, if the eye becomes red and painful or if vision drops, call: a metal fleck may have become embedded and can rust within a few days.

What not to do

  • No repeated use of “numbing” eye drops to hold off the pain: they mask the signal and slow down healing of the cornea.
  • No cortisone eye drops taken on your own initiative on a red eye: if there is herpes or an abscess, they make the infection worse.
  • No tight patch over the eye kept on for several days without medical advice.
  • No contact lenses for as long as the eye is red or painful.

Frequently asked questions about eye emergencies

Not necessarily, but it does call for a dilated eye exam without delay. This combination most often reflects a posterior vitreous detachment, which is ordinary with age — except that the vitreous, as it pulls away, can tear the retina on the way. A tear spotted in time is treated with a laser during a consultation, which greatly reduces the risk of detachment; the same tear left for a few days can detach the retina and then call for the operating room. Call the office: these signs are a priority.

The aim is to operate the same day, and at the latest within 48 to 72 hours. This is not a question of scheduling but of outcome: a detachment spreads, and the more ground it gains, the more complex the surgery and the more uncertain the outcome. That is why a retinal detachment is never put on a waiting list, and why it is better to come in for nothing than to wait and see.

In one case only: when a neurological sign comes with the visual disturbance. Trouble speaking, weakness in one arm or one leg, a drooping face, dizziness, or a sudden and unusual headache. This combination may point to a stroke, whose care is neurological before it is ophthalmological, and there time is counted in minutes. For everything else, call the office.

Yes, Monday through Friday. But start with Doctolib: emergency slots are set aside there and are confirmed immediately. If all the emergency reasons for visit are already taken online, call — the front desk can sometimes open up a place. And if you get neither one nor the other, come to the office rather than stay at home. No time frame can be guaranteed, and if your situation goes beyond what can be done at the office, you are referred to the appropriate department, with the diagnosis already made.

A red eye with no pain and no drop in vision is most often harmless. Three signs change the picture: severe pain, a drop in vision, strong sensitivity to light. A very painful red eye with blurred vision and halos around lights points toward acute angle-closure glaucoma, which is a matter of hours. In a contact lens wearer, a painful red eye means taking the lenses out and calling without delay.

Three departments in the Île-de-France region take eye emergencies 24 hours a day and with no appointment: the Quinze-Vingts, the Fondation Rothschild and the OphtalmoPôle at Cochin Hospital. You can go there directly. Check the entrance before you set off: at the Fondation Rothschild, it changes between day and night. If the signs suggest a retinal detachment, do not wait for Monday.

Keep the wristband you were given at the end of surgery until your ophthalmologist confirms that the gas has been absorbed. Do not go by whether or not you can see the bubble: a residual bubble may no longer be visible to you. It is this wristband that tells any health professional there is gas in the eye, including for a procedure that has nothing to do with the eyes. For as long as the gas is there, air travel and altitude are contraindicated — the bubble expands when the pressure drops — as is anesthesia with nitrous oxide, which makes it grow by diffusing into it. Severe pain, a drop in vision or a red eye after recent eye surgery should lead you to contact the team that operated on you without delay.

Learn more

Content written and reviewed by Dr Moïse Tourabaly, ophthalmologist. This page is meant to guide you; it makes no diagnosis and does not replace an examination. The time frames given are the ones the office works toward; they are not a commitment as to outcome.