Quite a few people experience black eyes at some point in their lives. There are several steps that can be taken to effectively treat a black eye and toexpedite the healing process.

The first step in dealing with a black eye is to minimize the swelling. Black eyes occur when some outside force causes contusions in the tiny blood vessels surrounding the eye. By keeping the swelling at a minimum, the vessels can begin to heal more quickly. A time honored means of dealing with swelling is to apply something cold to the black eye for a period of ten minutes, wait fifteen minutes, and apply a second round of cold compresses. Repeating this process several times over the first few hours after the incident that caused the black eye will make a huge difference in the severity of the damage.

Choosing a cold medium for application to the black eye is easy. Many people swear by a frozen sirloin steak. Other people will use an ice pack, or even grab a bag of frozen vegetables from the freezer. All of these choices are perfectly acceptable, and will work equally well. One factor to keep in mind is to avoid any sharp edges coming in contact with the area around the black eye. Generally, wrapping the cold element in a tea towel is sufficient.

Along with minimizing the swelling, there is also the need to address the collection of blood under the skin. In order to help the body reabsorb the collected blood more effectively, many people recommend ingesting additional amounts of vitamin C. Along with juices, eating papaya and pineapple are also helpful. Not only are both fruits packed with vitamin C, they also contain enzymes that will help to break down the molecular structure of the collected blood, which will speed up the process of absorbing the blood back into the system. For persons who don’t care to eat the whole fruit several times a day, it is possible to purchase papaya capsules in most health food stores.

While most black eyes can be treated effectively at home, it is important to make sure to consult a health care professional if there is any bloody discharge from the eye proper, or an incidence of blurry vision. If there is any concern about the condition of the black eye, go to the nearest emergency room for assistance.