A Guide to Eye Injury Claims

By Lewis Houston. Last Updated 24th August 2023. If you’ve sustained an injury to your eye, this can have a big impact on your quality of life. For instance, it might affect your ability to see. Furthermore, if your eye is visibly damaged this could affect your appearance and might cause psychological damage. 

You may be able to claim compensation for your injuries depending on how they occurred. If you were injured as a result of a breach of duty of care, you may be able to claim. We will discuss duty of care later on in this guide. 

If you are considering making an eye injury claim but you are not sure where to start, why not speak to our advisors today? They can help you understand how much you could be owed and can also connect you to a solicitor from our panel. In addition to this, they can offer free legal advice that could be hugely helpful to your compensation claim. To find out more, get in touch by:

  • Calling us on 0800 408 7825
  • Using our live chat functionality located at the bottom of your screen
  • Contacting us through the website

For more general information on eye injury claims, read our guide below.

a man with a bandaged eye after suffering an inury

Select a Section

  1. An Overview Of Common Types Of Eye Injury Claims
  2. Eye Injuries Caused By Foreign Bodies
  3. Corneal Scratches And Abrasions
  4. Chemical Burns
  5. How To Prove Eye Injury Claims
  6. How Is Compensation For Eye Injury Claims Calculated?
  7. Talk To Us About No Win No Fee Eye Injury Claims
  8. Related Eye Injury Claims

An Overview Of Common Types Of Eye Injury Claims

There are many types of eye injuries that you could claim for. Eye injuries may result from: 

  • Foreign bodies coming into contact with your eye 
  • Scratches and abrasions to the corneas
  • Burns caused by chemicals

These can occur in a number of settings For example, you might sustain an eye injury in the workplace. You could also be injured in this manner in a public place or after being involved in a car accident

To be able to start a successful claim, a solicitor must be able to prove negligence. Anyone who owns or controls a space has a duty of care to protect all visitors. If they fail to do this, this is a breach of duty of care. If this directly results in an injury, they could be held responsible. This is vital to your claim.

To discuss your compensation claim in further detail, speak to one of our advisors today. They can answer any questions you have about eye injury claims. Furthermore, they may be able to connect you with a solicitor from our panel if your claim has a good chance of success.

Eye Injuries Caused By Foreign Bodies

The eye can be injured as a result of a foreign body entering the eye. This could cause damage to the cornea, for example by scratching or piercing it. It could also cause irritation. 

Foreign body injuries to the eye could feasibly happen in any setting. One of the places where this kind of injury could occur is in the workplace. Section 4 of the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 outlines that your employer is responsible for providing you with the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that you need to do your job. 

If adequate PPE is not provided, this could constitute a breach of a duty of care. An employer can be found liable if your injury was caused as a result. 

Other examples of when this kind of injury could occur include: 

  • While you’re walking through a shopping centre, you walk past a storefront where building work is going on. There are no signs or warnings. As you walk past, a piece of wood is cut and sawdust enters your eye. 
  • You’ve told your employer in the past about the dust that comes from the ceiling above your desk when people move about upstairs. They have done nothing about it. One day, a particularly large cloud of dust comes down and enters your eye, injuring it. 

Corneal Scratches

The cornea is the clear window at the front of the eye and can be very sensitive. Scratches can occur when a foreign body makes contact with the cornea and can be very painful.

If a scratch to the cornea is left untreated, it can cause additional issues like scarring or infection.  

Again, corneal scratches could feasibly happen anywhere. However, one setting where you might sustain this injury is in road traffic accidents. Broken glass can fly into your eye, which could then scratch your cornea.

Symptoms of this type of injury include:

  • Redness or pain in the eye 
  • Watering or a sticky discharge from the eye 
  • Swollen eyelids
  • Light sensitivity
  • The feeling that there is something in your eye

Chemical Burns

You might also sustain a chemical burn to your eye. This can be dangerous as chemicals can be irritant and abrasive. If you sustain a chemical burn to your eye, this could result in a complete loss of vision. 

This injury could occur at work if you work with abrasive or irritant chemicals. The usage and control of chemicals at work is legislated by Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 which outlines how chemicals should be stored and transported. 

However, this could also occur in other circumstances. For example, you might be in a public toilet when a bottle of bleach with an unsecured lid knocks over and bleach splashes into your eye. 

NHS advice says that you should seek medical attention immediately if you get a strong chemical in your eye. While some eye injuries may be able to be treated by your GP or at a walk-in centre, in some cases you may need to visit the hospital.  Also, be sure to continually clean out your eye with water while you wait for medical help.

The symptoms of a chemical burn to the eye may largely be similar to corneal scratches and foreign body injury. However, depending on the nature of the chemical in use, you may also see bleeding or pus.

Your injury or accident may not be the same as the examples we have listed above. If you would like more information on eye injury claims, consider speaking to our advisors who can connect you to a solicitor from our panel. They can offer you free legal advice in addition to guidance that is linked to your own injury.

How To Prove Eye Injury Claims

If you have read about the information on eye injury claims on this page and you are now wondering about starting your own claim, you may be interested in the next steps you can take.

If your eye is injured in any setting, seek immediate medical attention. Not only will this generate medical records that could support your claim, but it will also ensure that you get the treatment you need. 

You may also wish to contact a personal injury solicitor. They can advise you of the steps you should take.

Usually, the next step is to collect evidence of the accident and your subsequent injuries. This can consist of the following:

  • Video evidence, such as from CCTV cameras, can be especially helpful if claiming compensation for the likes of an eye injury at work.
  • Photography from the scene of the accident
  • Contact details from people willing to act as witnesses. Their accounts of the accident could be used to support your claim. 

In addition to this, a medical examination will be arranged for you as part of your claim. This is done to determine the severity of your injuries and confirm that they were caused by the accident you were involved in.

If you would like to discuss eye injury claims in more detail, why not contact our advisors today? They can connect you to a solicitor from our panel who can offer more advice for your eye injury claim.

What Is The Time Limit For Claiming Eye Injury Compensation?

If you are interested in claiming eye injury compensation, it’s important that you start your claim within the eye injury claims time limit. According to the Limitation Act 1980, you will usually have three years to start your claim. This applies to all types of eye injury claims. However, this rule does come with some exceptions.

If you are under 18 when you are injured, then the time limit is suspended until you turn 18. Then, the limit runs from your 18th to your 21st birthday. However, someone else can claim on your behalf at any point during this time as your litigation friend.

If you do not have the mental capacity to claim on your own, then the time limit is suspended indefinitely. If you are able to recover adequate capacity, then the time limit is reinstated on the date of your recovery. If not, then a litigation friend can make your claim on your behalf.

For more information on the eye injury claims time limit, contact our team of advisors today.

How Is Compensation For Eye Injury Claims Calculated?

Settlements for successful eye injury claims could include both general and special damages.

General damages compensate you for the pain and suffering your injury to the eye has caused you. When valuing this head of claim, legal professionals may refer to the 16th edition of the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document features guideline compensation brackets for various types of injuries. We have included some of these figures in the table below.

Please only use them as a guide.

Edit
Injury Severity Nature of Incident Possible Compensation
Injury to the Eye Injury affecting sight (b) Total blindness. In the region of
£268,720
Injury to the Eye Injury affecting sight (c) Loss of sight in one eye, reduced vision in the remaining eye. This may indicate problems such as double vision. £95,990 to £179,770
Injury to the Eye Injury affecting sight (d) Total loss of one eye: the award here can change depending on age, psychiatric damage, and cosmetic effect. £54,830 to £65,710
Injury to the Eye Injury affecting sight (e) Loss of sight in one eye. The higher end of the bracket can incorporate scarring. £49,270 to £54,830
Injury to the Eye Injury affecting sight (f) Serious but incomplete vision loss in one eye. Constant blurred vision and sensitivity to light. £23,680 to £39,340
Injury to the Eye Injury affecting sight (g) Minor but permanent loss of vision in one eye. £9,110 to £20,980

You may also be awarded special damages. This head of claim deals with the financial impact of your injuries, such as out-of-pocket expenses and any monetary losses. 

Special damages might be awarded for the following:

  • A loss of earnings resulting from taking time out of work to recover from your injuries.
  • Buying specialist equipment required as a result of your eye injuries i.e. glasses.
  • Travel expenses caused by visits to the hospital regarding your injuries.

Evidence must be provided that can prove any financial harm if you wish to claim special damages. For example, you could obtain your pay slips, bank statements or receipts.

If you have suffered an injury to the eye and would like to know how to begin the eye injury claims process, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our advisors could connect you with an expert personal injury lawyer from our panel if you seek specialist legal support.

Talk To Us About No Win No Fee Eye Injury Claims

Are you interested in pursuing a claim for your eye injury, but worried about the costs that having a solicitor work on your behalf could incur? If so, we can help. You may be able to have a solicitor represent you on a No Win No Fee basis. This is the informal name for a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). 

This means that you are only obligated to pay your solicitor’s fees in the event of a win. If you are successful in your claim, you pay a legally-capped success fee, which is a small percentage of your compensation. This also means that you won’t be asked to pay them upfront or while your claim is ongoing. 

If this sounds like it could be of interest to you, you can contact our advisors for more information. Get in touch now for free legal advice on eye injury claims. You can do so by:

  • Calling us on 0800 408 7825
  • Using our live chat functionality located at the bottom of your screen
  • Contacting us through the website

Related Eye Injury Claims

We also have some other guides you may find useful:

Thank you for reading our guide on eye injury claims.