Managing patients with eye complaints in the emergency department can be particularly challenging. Symptoms such as red eye or reduced visual acuity are common to a wide range of ophthalmic conditions—some benign, others sight-threatening. The potential for irreversible visual loss, combined with limited exposure to ophthalmology in undergraduate training, can make initial assessment and management daunting for junior clinicians.

This guide has been developed to support medical students and junior doctors at the start of their placements in urgent care and emergency medicine. It offers a concise summary of common urgent care ophthalmological presentations, highlighting key presenting features and red flags. This book is not exhaustive and only highlights some of the more common presentations. It aims to provide an initial knowledge base that can be expanded upon throughout clinical practice.