Q: If you suspect you have injured your cornea, it's best to make an appointment with your eye doctor. The doctor will use a penlight or ophthalmoscope to examine your eye for trauma. Your doctor may also examine your injured eye using special eye drops with Fluorescein dye that make your tears yellow. This dye helps make your abrasion more visible under the blue light.  To do this, a topical anesthetic is added to the eye and then your lower lid will be pulled down gently. A Fluorescein strip is then touched onto the eye, and as you blink, the dye spreads throughout the eye. Yellow stained areas under normal light indicated damaged corneal areas. Your doctor will then use a special cobalt blue light to highlight areas of abrasion and to determine the cause.  Several vertical abrasions can indicate a foreign body, while branching stains can indicate herpes keratitis. Additionally, several punctuated lesions can indicate your contact lens as a cause.  Your vision will be affected by this dye and you will see a yellow haze for a few minutes. You may also experience a yellow discharge from your nose during this time. If your scratched cornea is causing you pain, it's a good idea to take over-the-counter pain medications, such as those containing acetaminophen (Tylenol).  Dealing with your pain is important, as pain causes stress to the body, which prevents the body from healing quickly and effectively.  Always take pain medications according to the instructions on the packaging and never exceed the recommended dosage. Eye patches were traditionally used to help heal a corneal scratch, however recent medical studies have found that eye patches can actually increase pain and prolong healing. An eye patch hinders the natural blinking of the eye, thus straining the eyelids and producing pain. It also increases the tearing of the eye and this invites more infection and delays the healing process.  An eye patch also decreases oxygen delivery, and the cornea is dependent on oxygenation. Nowadays, instead of an eye patch, your doctor will often prescribe nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) eye drops, used in combination with a soft, disposable contact lens. The eye drops are designed to decrease the sensitivity of your cornea. The soft contact lens is used as a bandage to protect your eye, speed up the healing process and reduce pain while it heals. Unlike with eye patches, this therapy allows you to see out of both of your eyes, all the while reducing inflammation. The most common prescribed eye drops and ointments include topical NSAIDs and antibiotics.   Topical NSAIDs: Try Diclofenac (Voltaren), 0.1% solution. Put one drop in your eye four times daily. You can also try Ketorolac (Acular), 0.5% solution. Use one drop four times daily.See Part 3 for how to administer eye drops.Always follow the instructions and dosage outlined on the packaging.  Topical antibiotics: Try Bacitracin (AK-Tracin) and use 1/2-inch ribbon two to four times daily. Or use erythromycin ophthalmic ointment, applying a 1/2-inch ribbon. You can also use Chloramphenicol (Chloroptic), 1% ointment and give yourself two drops every three hours. Yet another option is Ciprofloxacin (Ciloxan), 0.3% solution, where the dosage changes over the course of the treatment. On the first day, administer two drops every 15 minutes for six hours, then two drops every 30 minutes for rest of day. On the second day, administer two drops per hour. From the third day to day 14, administer two drops every four hours. Always follow the instructions and dosage outlined on the packaging. Wearing eye makeup — such as mascara, eye shadow or eyeliner — can irritate the injured eye and prolong healing. Therefore, it's best to avoid wearing eye makeup until the scratch has completely healed. It's a good idea to wear sunglasses while you're dealing with a scratched cornea to protect your eyes from light sensitivity. Sometimes a scratched cornea will cause light sensitivity. You can protect your eyes from the light by wearing sunglasses with UV protection, even while indoors. If you are experiencing extreme sensitivity to light or spasms in your eyelid, your ophthalmologist may choose to give you eye drops designed to dilate your pupil. This helps to reduce pain and relax your eye muscles. See Part 3 on how to administer pupil dilating eye drops. Avoid wearing your contacts until your physician says it's safe. If you wear contacts regularly, it's recommended that you avoid wearing them for at least a week following the injury, until your cornea has healed completely.  This is particularly important if the cornea scratch was caused by wearing contact lenses in the first place. You should also not wear contact lenses while applying antibiotic treatments to your injured cornea. Wait 24 hours after your last dosage of antibiotics before wearing them again.
A: Get a diagnosis. Take oral pain medication to alleviate pain. Avoid wearing an eye patch. Inquire about alternatives to eye patches. Don't wear any eye makeup. Wear sunglasses. Don't wear contact lenses.

Q: You can continue growing your prickly pear in a pot, or you can transplant it into the ground. To transplant the cactus, choose an outdoor location that gets lots of full sun exposure.  Even if you keep the prickly pear in a pot, it still needs to be positioned somewhere that gets full sun. If you live in a climate with colder winters where temperatures dip below 14 degrees F (-10 degrees C), keep the prickly pear in a pot so you can move it indoors when the weather gets cold. The best time to transplant a prickly pear is in the late spring, when the risk of frost and excessive rain are done.  Dig a hole that’s about the same size as the pot the cactus is in. Get the pot as near to the hole as possible. Gently tip the pot upside down and cup the plant with a gloved hand.  Place the roots in the hole and cover it with soil. Pack the soil down with your hands and saturate it with water. During the first week, water the plant every three to four days. After that, water the cactus every three to four weeks. After the first year of establishment, it will not need any extra watering aside from the rain it gets. Let the prickly pear establish itself for several months before harvesting pads or fruit. Wait for the plant to grow a second or third pad before harvesting pads, and wait until there are at least eight blooms on a pad before harvesting the fruit it produces.  Cut pads with a sharp knife in the late morning or early afternoon. This is when the acid content is lowest. Remove the pads just above the joint. Harvest fruit by twisting the fruit and gently pulling it away from the pad. You know the fruit is ripe when the glochids, or thorns, fall off the light or dark colored bumps on the fruit. Be sure to wear gloves to protect your hands from thorns when harvesting from the prickly pear. To prevent damage from the cold, even if you live in a warm climate, cover the soil surrounding the prickly pear with mulch in the fall. If you live in a cold climate and have your cactus in a pot, bring the prickly pear inside in the fall to prevent it from freezing.
A:
Choose a permanent location for the cactus. Transplant the cactus. Harvest pads and fruit once the plant is established. Cover the soil with mulch in winter.