Emergency and Trauma Eye Care

Massachusetts Eye and Ear provides New England's only 24-hour, 7 days-a-week dedicated eye emergency room. Mass. Eye and Ear is a major referral center for eye trauma in the New England area and provides other emergency assistance to patients whose regular ophthalmic provider is not readily available. Our Emergency Department also provides eye care to patients seen in the Emergency Department at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and reciprocal medical and surgical support is provided to Mass. Eye and Ear by MGH.

The Emergency Department (ED) at Mass. Eye and Ear provides care for many different types of urgent and emergent eye problems on a walk-in basis. In addition, we maintain a complete Eye Trauma Service with regular weekly schedule of outpatient appointments, as well as subspecialty services including retina, cornea, glaucoma, oculoplastics and neuro-ophthalmology. The operating rooms at Mass. Eye and Ear are always available for urgent surgical repairs.

The ED serves as a tertiary referral center for other hospitals and trauma centers in the area which lack ophthalmology coverage. Isolated eye trauma in an otherwise medically stable patient may be sent to the Mass. Eye and Ear ED for consultation, treatment and admission. Our staff has decades of experience in treating emergent ophthalmic conditions and tends to over 20,000 cases yearly.

How Our Emergency Department Works: The ED at Mass. Eye and Ear offers service at any time of the day, every day of the year. No appointment is necessary. However, the department is busiest from noon to 6 p.m. Patients are seen in the order of their arrival and according to the level of severity. You will be screened by a nurse and then seen by a physician.

Who Works in Our Emergency Department: Our ED is staffed by nurses, residents, fellows and attending physicians in ophthalmology.

Where We Are Located: Ground level of the main building: 243 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114

Our Eye Trauma Service is an outpatient service with regular weekday hours in the patient care area of our main downtown Boston building.  The physicians provide follow-up evaluation and care for patients with eye trauma.

Physician Staff

Our physician staff are eye care specialists certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology or are board-eligible and preparing for certification.  Select Emergency Eye Service or EyeTrauma in the Specialty choices of the Find a Doctor search in the left column to learn more about our primary attending physicians in these services.