Knowing how to respond when patients present with problems involving the eye is crucial for family practice clinicians. Yet it is often difficult to know whether to treat or refer and which signs and symptoms are indicative of an ophthalmologic emergency with the potential to cause loss of sight.
Categorizing ophthalmologic conditions based on patients’ chief complaints can narrow the differential diagnosis. In this article, common complaints such as “I can’t see,” “I’m seeing things,” and “My eye hurts” are used to highlight disorders—both benign and emergent—associated with each.
Continue for the first problem... "I can't see"