Paddlers' Guide to Treating Medical Emergencies

EYES

Prevention tip: Don't stick anything into your eye.

More helpful prevention tip: The eye has a wonderful protection device-the eyelid. This protects from MOST objects traveling towards the eye. The kicker is that you actually have to see the object coming. Therefore the most common objects to contact the eyeball are things that you don't see coming, such as eyelashes, windblown small objects, cinders at night around a campfire. Therefore, during higher danger times such as windy days, bushwhacking through brush, nighttime, especially around a fire, consider more protective eyewear-goggles, glacier glasses, wrap-around glasses, etc.
Treatment: DO NOT stick your finger or anything else into your eye (or rub your eyelid) to attempt to dislodge the object already in your eye. Really, this is a bad idea. Your grandmother told you the same thing and look how good her eyes were (O.K., bad example). However, you do risk converting an easily treatable situation into a protracted nightmare that may jeopardize your vision (such as a deep corneal laceration or a raging eye infection).
DO wash your eye out copiously with water. A hydration bladder with a slit-type mouthpiece (Camelback, etc.) works beautifully for this. Please make sure there is clean water, not beer in the bladder. If it still FEELS like there is something still there (I say FEEL because the object may be gone, but an abrasion or laceration may make it feel like a tree is still in there), you may have a companion try to visualize (no touching!), so that they can direct the irrigation appropriately.