Eye pain can occur on the surface of your eye or within your eye’s deeper structures. Severe eye pain — especially accompanied by any vision loss — may be a signal that you have a serious medical condition. Seek immediate medical attention.

Eye pain that’s on the surface of your eye might be described as itching, burning or shooting pain. Surface eye pain is often related to a foreign object in your eye, an eye infection, or anything that irritates or inflames the membrane covering the surface of your eye.

You might describe eye pain that is deeper within your eye as throbbing or aching.

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March 03, 2023

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