Louisiana Eye Injury & Vision Loss Lawyer
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents Louisiana workers who have lost sight, or part of it, because of a job, handling workers’ compensation claims for people hurt in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities throughout South Louisiana and the rest of the state. A Louisiana eye injury and vision loss lawyer matters in these cases because the eye is the one part of the body where an insurer’s early assumptions can quietly become a permanent outcome: a corneal abrasion treated as minor, a retinal tear dismissed as unrelated, a chemical splash logged as “irritation.”
Eye injuries at work rarely announce their full extent on day one. A welder’s flash burn may heal while a cataract develops later. A metal fragment can leave a scar on the retina that reveals itself as blind spots weeks afterward. A blow to the face can detach a retina days after the swelling goes down. Louisiana’s compensation system pays for the treatment and the wage loss, but only if the claim is documented correctly from the beginning, with the right specialists involved.
The sections below cover how vision claims are built, which deadlines control them, how Louisiana’s hearing and appeal system treats them, and what to do in the first days after the injury.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Vision Loss Claim
Workers’ compensation is the center of this firm’s practice, and our attorneys bring over 75 years of combined experience to claims that have been denied, delayed, or cut off. Rob Lunsford, Founding Partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both Partners, have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. The team also includes Andrew Rueff, who has tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict, along with Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher.
The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements for clients. Among the results relevant to injuries with lasting physical limits: $685,000 for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $385,000 for a project manager injured after being struck in his work vehicle, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. Every case is different, and those figures describe other clients’ claims, not a prediction for yours. They do show that this firm takes on serious injuries and sees them through to substantial settlements.
Clients consistently describe the same things in their reviews: attorneys who listen, who stay with them through the process, and who fought with the insurance company on their behalf. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with us in Spanish, since hablamos español.
Types of Work-Related Eye Injuries and Vision Loss We Handle
- Chemical Splash and Burn Injuries: Cleaning solvents, acids, caustic agents, and industrial chemicals can damage the cornea within seconds. Plant workers along the Mississippi River industrial corridor, refinery and petrochemical crews, janitorial staff, and lab technicians face this exposure. Alkali burns are especially dangerous because they keep penetrating after the splash.
- Foreign Object Penetration: Metal slivers from grinding, drilling, or hammering, along with wood chips, glass, and debris thrown by machinery, can scratch or puncture the eye. Construction, fabrication, and shipyard work produce many of these claims, including cases where the worker was wearing safety glasses that failed or didn’t fit.
- Welding Flash and Radiation Injury: Arc eye, or photokeratitis, causes intense pain hours after exposure and can contribute to longer-term damage with repeated incidents. Welders and pipefitters on industrial sites are the usual claimants.
- Blunt Trauma and Retinal Detachment: A strike from a tool, a swinging load, a fall, or an airbag deployment in a work vehicle can fracture the orbit, bleed inside the eye, or tear the retina. Detachment can appear days later and demands prompt surgery to preserve sight.
- Burns Around the Face and Eyes: Flash fires, steam, and electrical arcs on oil rigs, in plants, and on industrial job sites often involve the eyes along with other catastrophic injuries, and the vision component can be overlooked while attention goes to more visible wounds.
- Occupational Eye Disease and Gradual Vision Loss: Prolonged chemical vapor exposure, repetitive radiation exposure, or dust can cause chronic conditions. These claims require medical proof tying the condition to the work environment rather than to age or genetics.
- Head Injuries Affecting Vision: A traumatic brain injury from a fall or a vehicle collision can impair the visual pathways even when the eyes themselves are structurally intact, producing double vision, field loss, or light sensitivity.
- Accidents Involving a Third Party: When a negligent driver, equipment manufacturer, or contractor causes the injury, a separate personal injury claim may exist alongside comp benefits, which can reach losses that comp does not cover.
What Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Pays When Your Vision Is Damaged
Louisiana requires nearly every employer to carry compensation coverage, and the benefits for an eye injury follow the same framework as any other work injury. All reasonable and necessary medical treatment is covered: emergency care, ophthalmology and retina specialists, surgery, medications, follow-up visits, and corrective devices tied to the injury. Wage replacement applies while you cannot work, and it is paid as a percentage of your average wage, subject to a maximum weekly rate that is set each year and fixed by the date of your accident.
Vision loss often changes what work you can do rather than ending your ability to work altogether. A driver who loses depth perception, a machinist who loses the sharpness needed for close tolerances, or a crane operator whose field of vision narrows may be released to some form of work but not their old job. That is where supplemental earnings benefits come in. When an injury leaves you unable to earn at least 90 percent of your pre-injury wages, supplemental earnings benefits pay two-thirds of the difference between what you used to earn and what you can earn now. These benefits can last until you return to full duty, earn your old wage again, or reach the 520-week maximum, and weeks of temporary total disability count toward that limit.
Permanent consequences open further categories of benefits, including permanent partial and permanent total disability. How much sight was lost, in which eye, and in what form (acuity, field, depth perception) all matter, and the medical records must say so clearly. Vocational rehabilitation can also be part of the picture when you cannot return to your old job.
What to Do After a Workplace Eye Injury in Louisiana
Get medical care first, and make sure the provider documents that the injury happened at work. If a chemical was involved, flush the eye immediately and keep flushing on the way to treatment, then bring the product name or safety data sheet if you can. Tell the clinic you are a workers’ compensation patient and describe the mechanism in plain detail: what struck you, what you were doing, what you were wearing. Ask to be seen by an ophthalmologist, not only an urgent care provider. Eye injuries that look minor at first can progress, and early specialist records are your strongest evidence later.
Report the injury to your employer right away, in writing if you can. Louisiana law bars a compensation proceeding unless the employer receives notice within 30 days of the injury, and waiting that long hands the insurer an argument. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, though the deadline may extend to three years from the last compensation payment if benefits have been paid. Don’t let paid benefits lull you into complacency, because those extensions depend on the specifics.
Preserve evidence. Keep the safety glasses or face shield you were wearing, photograph the scene and any equipment involved, write down who witnessed the incident, and keep every discharge paper, prescription, and appointment record. Do not give a recorded statement to the insurance adjuster without understanding how it will be used; adjusters ask about prior eye problems, contact lens use, and previous exams in order to build a pre-existing condition argument.
When treatment is denied, there is a short clock. A dispute over a denied medical treatment request goes to the Office of Workers’ Compensation through Form 1009, which must be filed within 15 calendar days of written notice of the denial; the OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to issue a decision. If you disagree with that decision, you have 45 days from its issuance to file Form 1008. Missing these windows can cost you the treatment, so a denial letter should reach a lawyer the same week it arrives.
Claims that cannot be resolved go before a workers’ compensation judge in one of Louisiana’s ten district offices, located in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Covington, Harahan, Houma, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans, and Shreveport. The worker chooses where to file from among three options: the parish where the injury happened, the parish where the worker lived when hurt, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. A judgment can be appealed to the proper Louisiana court of appeal. An appeal that suspends the judgment must be filed within 30 days; one that does not suspend it has 60 days. The Fourth Circuit hears appeals from Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes, the First Circuit covers East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes, and the Third Circuit covers Lafayette and Calcasieu among others.
How Insurers Contest Eye Injury and Vision Loss Claims
The common defenses are predictable. Carriers argue the injury didn’t happen at work, usually when no one witnessed it or when symptoms developed hours later, as with welding flash. They point to pre-existing conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, macular degeneration, or old injuries, even when the work incident clearly caused a new tear, burn, or hemorrhage. A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim: if the job caused, worsened, or accelerated the problem, benefits may still be owed. The fight is over medical causation, and it is won with specialist opinions that explain the mechanism.
Insurers also dispute how much vision was actually lost. Visual acuity testing can be subjective, and field loss and depth perception problems are harder to quantify than a missing limb. Your attorney should make sure the right tests are performed, such as visual field testing and functional assessments, and that the treating specialist addresses what the impairment means for your specific job duties. A driver or equipment operator with a 20/40 reading may still be unsafe on the job, and that gap is where wage benefits are won or lost.
Employers sometimes push an injured worker back to light duty before the eye has stabilized, and then treat a refusal as grounds to cut off wage benefits. Work restrictions need to come from your doctor, not the adjuster. Louisiana law also protects you from retaliation for filing a claim; if you were disciplined or let go after reporting an eye injury, that is something to raise in your first consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Eye Injury and Vision Loss Claims
Is an eye injury covered by workers’ compensation in Louisiana?
Yes, when the injury or condition arises from your work. Coverage reaches the treatment, including emergency care, specialists, and surgery, as well as wage replacement while you cannot work. It applies to sudden accidents and to conditions that develop from workplace exposure.
How long do I have to report a work eye injury?
Report it to your employer right away and no later than 30 days after the injury. Louisiana law bars a compensation proceeding if the employer is not notified within that window. A formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident.
What if my vision problems developed gradually or got worse days later?
Delayed symptoms are common with retinal detachment, flash burns, and chemical exposure. Document the original incident as soon as you can, and see an ophthalmologist quickly so the records connect the later symptoms to the work event. Delay gives the insurer room to argue the problem came from somewhere else.
Can I choose my own eye doctor?
Louisiana generally gives you the right to select a treating physician in a given specialty, subject to the rules governing that choice. Because eye cases turn on specialist testimony, it is worth discussing the selection with an attorney before the insurer steers you to a provider.
The insurer says my eye condition is pre-existing. Is my claim over?
No. If the job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, you may still qualify for benefits. Insurers raise this argument often, and the answer is usually a strong medical opinion that separates the work injury from the baseline condition.
What if I lost vision in one eye but can still work?
You may still be entitled to substantial benefits. Loss of depth perception and narrowed fields affect many jobs, and if you cannot earn at least 90 percent of your prior wage, supplemental earnings benefits pay two-thirds of the difference, for up to 520 weeks.
Were my safety glasses required, and does it matter if I wasn’t wearing them?
Workers’ compensation is generally a no-fault system, so a failure to wear protective gear does not by itself defeat a claim. Insurers sometimes raise it anyway, so tell your attorney exactly what happened. If defective equipment caused the injury, a third-party claim against the manufacturer may also exist.
Can I sue someone besides my employer for my eye injury?
Often yes, when a negligent driver, contractor, or equipment maker caused the injury. Louisiana’s two-year prescriptive period applies to injuries occurring on or after July 1, 2024; earlier injuries fall under the former one-year period. Louisiana also bars recovery for a claimant found 51 percent or more at fault in causes of action arising on or after January 1, 2026, so the facts of fault matter.
Will my own health insurance pay while the claim is pending?
It depends on the plan, which may seek reimbursement if comp is later found to owe the bill. If the insurer denies treatment, deadlines to dispute it are short, so ask your attorney how to keep necessary care going without creating a coverage problem.
How long does a vision loss claim take?
Timing depends on how stable the injury is. Many eye cases cannot be valued until the condition reaches maximum medical improvement, meaning surgeries are complete and the long-term vision outcome is known. Settling too early is a common and costly mistake.
What does it cost to hire your firm?
Nothing up front. Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and we are paid only if we recover benefits or a settlement for you. Attorney fees in workers’ compensation cases are limited and approved under state law.
Serving Louisiana Eye Injury Clients From the Gulf Coast to Shreveport
Our attorneys represent injured workers across South Louisiana and the rest of the state. In the New Orleans area, that means workers in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines parishes, including the port, shipyard, and industrial facilities that line the river. Along the corridor to Baton Rouge we serve clients in the petrochemical and plant communities, as well as the capital region itself. Westward, we handle claims for people hurt in Lafayette, Lake Charles, and the Acadiana communities, including offshore support, oilfield, and refinery workers. In the northern part of the state we represent workers in Shreveport and Bossier City, Monroe, and Alexandria. We also serve workers throughout Mississippi, from the Gulf Coast to north Mississippi, wherever an injury has changed how they see and work.
Speak With a Louisiana Eye Injury Attorney Today
An eye injury that costs you vision can change your job, your income, and how you get through an ordinary day, and the insurance company’s early decisions about your claim can shape what follows. If you need a Louisiana vision loss attorney who handles only injured workers’ claims, our team is ready to review what happened, explain which deadlines apply, and push for the medical care and wage benefits the law provides. Call us any hour of the day for a free consultation; you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you.
