Symptoms:
The area around the eye turns black, following a blow to it.

Cause:
Blood tends to pool around the delicate eyeball, in order to hasten healing.


Treatment:
• Boxing trainers deal with black eyes all the time. They apply an extremely cold piece of iron (something like a small tire iron) to the area. This reduces the swelling. An alternative is to hold a clean, cold soda can against the cheek (but not against the eye itself) for several minutes. Do not place any pressure on the eye itself.

• Do not take aspirin. Because it is an anticoagulant, the blood will not clot as well. Instead, the bleeding will continue longer.

• Do not blow your nose! If you received a severe strike, blowing your nose could cause blood vessels to burst beneath the skin in a much wider area! Sometimes the injury fractures the eye socket bone, and blowing your nose could force air out of your sinus adjacent to the socket. The air is injected under the skin—making the eyelids swell even more. This can increase the likelihood of infection.