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What to Do for an Eye Health Emergency During Covid-19

March 23, 2020 – If you experience an eye or vision emergency during the closures of the Covid-19 pandemic, you are urged to seek care through your optometrist. Many optometry offices remain open for essential and emergency care.

Colorado’s optometrists are taking steps to remain available for care for those patients needing urgent and/or essential care.  This will also be a great benefit to Colorado’s hospital emergency rooms, who are not in a position to treat eye emergencies at this time.

Many offices are able to address the following issues via tele-health or curbside pick-up:

  • Red Eye (aka: pink eye or conjunctivitis)
  • Broken Glasses
  • Contact Lens Refills (usually via mail)
  • Other Eye Emergencies
  • Other Essential Care Appointments

“We are open for emergencies and urgencies. An individual in need of eye care will call the office and we then triage to see if we can take care of them over the phone. If not, we have them come to the office, but the door is locked and we will let them in,” says Melissa Tada, OD of Mountain View Vision in Colorado Springs.

Each optometry office has different processes and circumstances so call your optometrist to see what level of care they are able to provide during this time. Try your best to stay out of the overloaded emergency care offices.

If you’re having an eye care emergency and need a new optometrist you can Find an Optometrist here.

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One Simple Way to Prevent Concussions and Traumatic Brain Injuries at Any Age

Did you know that you’re at a higher risk for a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or concussion if you’re male, play sports or drive a car? For Coloradans the highest risk occurs in age groups 15-24 years and 65+.2

The leading causes of TBIs are:

  • Falls (47%)
  • Struck by/against (15%)
  • Motor vehicle-traffic crashes (14%)
  • Assaults (11%)
  • Other/Unknown (13%) 3

Colorado emergency rooms see an average of 23,500 visits annually due to Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)1. A concussion is considered to be a mild brain injury caused by a blow or jolt to the head that produces changes in normal brain function following the impact. Typically, concussions are not life-threatening, but their after affects can be serious and impact quality of life, as well as, daily functioning.

If not properly treated Concussions can continue to impact quality of life well beyond the typical rehabilitation period, but there is a simple way to reduce your risk of ever experiencing a concussion.

So what is it? Drum roll please…

Get an annual comprehensive eye exam with an optometrist!

Yes, it’s that simple. Keeping your eyesight in tip top shape will give you the edge in any situation where your TBI risk is elevated. 20/20 vision can reduce falls, car accidents, sports injuries, and more. In addition, an optometrist can identify undiagnosed concussions that may have been overlooked and then create a vision rehabilitation plan for treatment.



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*In light of Covid-19 and various public health needs the Colorado Optometric Association encourages you to find an optometrist today while adhering to current social distancing and quarantine guidelines. 

1 (2019). Brain Injury Facts & Figures. Retrieved from https://biacolorado.org/brain-injury-facts-figures/

2 https://biacolorado.org/brain-injury-facts-figures/

3 https://biacolorado.org/brain-injury-facts-figures/

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Make Sure Your Concussion Care Plan Includes This Person

Colorado emergency rooms see an average of 23,500 visits annually due to Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)1. A concussion is considered to be a mild brain injury caused by a blow or jolt to the head that produces changes in normal brain function following the impact. Typically, concussions are not life-threatening, but their after affects can be serious and impact quality of life, as well as, daily functioning.

Immediate signs and symptoms of a concussion may include:

  • Headache or a feeling of pressure in the head
  • Temporary loss of consciousness
  • Confusion or feeling as if in a fog
  • Amnesia surrounding the traumatic event
  • Dizziness or “seeing stars”
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting

Research shows that up to 75% of all patients with TBIs suffer from visual dysfunction.2 Visual symptoms include problems with visual acuity, visual fields, oculomotor function, accommodative disorders, convergence insufficiency, and saccadic dysfunction.3,4 Often times, these visual dysfunctions continue into the concussion rehabilitation process.

Common concussion related visual symptoms:

  • Double vision
  • Poor eye tracking ability
  • Difficulties with shifting gaze quickly from one point to another
  • Trouble focusing
  • Loss of binocular vision (eye alignment)
  • Eye strain
  • Fatigue
  • Glare, or light sensitivity
  • Inability to maintain visual contact
  • Headaches
  • Blurred near vision

To increase the efficacy of concussion care, an optometrist should be part of your concussion care team as they can help detect, treat and reduce the overall impact of a concussion.

Vision begins with the eyes, but we often overlook that more than half of the brain is dedicated to visual processing and vision. Optometrists are able to detect signs of undiagnosed concussions and also put together a vision rehabilitation plan that can improve related visual dysfunctions.5

Undiagnosed or untreated concussions can decrease an individual’s ability to perform daily tasks.

Symptoms from untreated vision problems include:

  • Lack of focus
  • Lack of attention
  • Decrease in cognition

Doctors of optometry are an essential part of a proper concussion care team and are able to detect and treat visual symptoms that other specialists may miss. Early detection and treatment of concussions are key to minimizing the impact of the injury on daily life. Find a trusted Colorado optometrist today!



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1 (2019). Brain Injury Facts & Figures. Retrieved from https://biacolorado.org/brain-injury-facts-figures/.

2 Stelmack JA, Frith T, Van Koevering D, Rinne S, Stelmack TR. Visual function in patients followed at a Veterans Affairs polytrauma network site: an electronic medical record review. Optometry

3 https://www.cdc.gov/features/older-adult-falls/index.html

4 AOA Brain Injury Electronic Resource Manual: Volume 1A: Traumatic Brain Injury Visual Dysfunction Diagnosis. P. 125. See also AOA Focus. Eye on head injuries: Can football pass the eye test? September 2016

5 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30470420

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