ow! i got something in my eye!!

so, i'm on some ride, in the middle of nowhere. on the illinois prairie path, or whatever that path is that runs into new glarus, wisconsin, or somewhere else. and i get a piece of grit in my eye. there's no pharmacy to buy eyedrops. this happens to me a lot. i have crud-catcher on my down-tube, which works quite well for preventing a lot of this. but sometimes i'm riding on a dry, windy day. and my prescription sunglasses seem designed to just funnel grit up into my eyes. i never wear contacts cycling. not sure anyone else should, either, but i wouldn't know about that because i've never tried it.

aside: carrying eyedrops with me might not be a bad idea, but it's not something i do. the quality would deteriorate in the heat even more, i fear, than that of that one chocolate/raspberry 40/30/30 bar that spent 4 seasons in my rack trunk. (yeah, i would keep eyedrops in my rack trunk for four seasons. i'm that kind of slacker.) i did ultimately eat the 40/30/30 bar; but after all that time i would never have stuck it in my eye.

ok.. back to my evil eye-grit. i'm not a health-care professional, but since i've been a cyclist for ages, i have had a bit of experience with sudden, painful, scary eye-grit. here's what i do.

i close the affected eye, but leave the other eye open so i can find a place off the path to stop as soon as possible.

then i relax.

i especially relax my eyes. it's hard, 'cause one eye hurts and i'm a little freaked out. but once i'm standing still, i take a deep breath and allow both eyes to gently close. then i stand there for a bit, allowing tears to form. the thing is, when i'm freaked out, still riding & trying not to crash, my eye with the grit just twitches, which keeps the grit moving, which just makes things worse. my eyes are really good at dealing with the grit-thing, if i'll just stop and let them. eyes fill with tears. i've even been known to think of something sad on purpose, to encourage more tears.. (but don't think of anything funny. giggling makes it worse.) either the grit gets washed out by the tears, or it will get covered with eye mucus, which also takes the edge off. which i figure is good enough to get me home, or back to the car, if i'm injured.

to date, i've never had to end a ride early 'cause of eye-grit.

but if something really bad should happen to one of my eyes on a bike-ride, i expect to do the same thing; then get to urgent care as soon as i can.

my own personal reasoning is: whether a grit-hit is serious, or just ouchy, being freaked out and letting my eye twitch away with grit under the lid can't possibly improve the situation.