Eye Emergency in Cabo: What to Do and Where to Go

Sun, wind, sand, salt water and a lot of contact-lens hours: Los Cabos is hard on eyes, and an eye problem on holiday is frightening because you do not know the system. This is the short version of how to sort it out.

Go to a hospital first if

Sudden loss of vision in one eye, even partial. A curtain or shadow moving across your view. A burst of new floaters with flashes of light. Severe pain with nausea or vomiting. A blow to the eye, a cut, or anything embedded in it. Any chemical splash: rinse with clean water for fifteen minutes on the way. These are hospital problems first; an ophthalmologist takes over afterwards for follow-up. Both San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas have private hospitals with 24-hour emergency rooms.

• Sudden loss of vision, even partial
• A curtain or shadow across the view
• New floaters with flashes of light
• Severe pain with nausea
• A blow, a cut, or something embedded
• Any chemical splash: rinse 15 minutes on the way

An ophthalmologist this week

A red eye that hurts or is sensitive to light. Sand or an eyelash you cannot flush out. A contact lens that has left the eye sore or blurry, especially after swimming in the sea or a pool. Blurred vision that came on over a day or two. A stye or swollen lid that is getting worse rather than better. A pterygium (the fleshy growth surfers get) that has become inflamed. None of these need an emergency room, but none should wait until you are home either.

What can usually wait

Mild dryness and grittiness from the wind, which lubricating drops from a pharmacy handle. A painless red patch on the white of the eye that appeared after sneezing or rubbing, which is a small bruise and fades in a week or two. Needing your glasses prescription checked, which is not urgent unless something changed suddenly.

What to bring

Your contact lenses and their box, if lenses are involved. Any drops you have been using. Your glasses. A list of medicines you take and your medical conditions, diabetes in particular. Your travel insurance details if you have them, and a card: the clinic takes card payments and issues a receipt you can submit to your insurer at home.

• Contact lenses and their box
• Any drops you have used
• Your glasses
• Medicines and conditions, especially diabetes
• Travel insurance details and a card

How the clinic works for visitors

Dr. Serrano's clinic is in San José del Cabo, ten minutes from the hotel zone and the airport and 30 to 40 minutes from Cabo San Lucas along the corridor. Consultations are in English or Spanish. The fastest way to reach the clinic is WhatsApp, with a short description of the problem and, if you can, a photo of the eye; the team answers during clinic hours and tells you the next available time. If you are flying home soon, say so: the plan is built around your departure and your own eye doctor at home gets a written summary for follow-up.

Prevention for the rest of the trip

Sunglasses that block UV, a hat, daily disposable contacts rather than monthlies for the beach, no lenses in the sea or the pool, and lubricating drops in the bag. Most of the eye problems the clinic sees in visitors start with one of those.