From time to time, we’ve all had the feeling that there’s something stuck in our eye and we can’t get it out. Usually, after we examine the eye carefully and try to make it water, the feeling goes away.

But sometimes it doesn’t. If you feel as though there is something stuck in your eye but you can’t see anything, you should see your eye doctor immediately, because your cornea, a clear film that covers the front of the eyeball, may have been damaged through either trauma or infection.

Because the cornea works in tandem with the retina to transmit images to the brain, any damage to the cornea may result in your visions being impaired, either temporarily or permanently.

Corneal tissue is so thin that it’s not difficult to see how it can be damaged so easily. The cornea can be scratched by a grain of sand or by prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light. Even if the damage has been caused by a foreign body, once the offending particle has been removed, it may still feel as though there’s something in your eye, and the cornea can become infected or ulcerated. You will also feel a sharp pain in the affected eye, and your vision will be diminished if the corneal damage has been caused by an infection or a physical trauma. Your eye may alsq become sore and red. With an infection, the cause is usually the herpes simplex virus, the virus that is also responsible for cold sores, and it will hurt. If a white spot appears on the surface of your eye, you probably have an ulcer on your cornea. An ulcer may be due to a physical injury but can also be caused by a fungal infection, which can be very serious: but occurs only rarely.

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