I have diabetes. My glucose control at home is fairly good because almost everything I eat has a nutrition label, and I can calculate somewhat accurately exactly how much insulin I need to take. When I travel, eating in restaurants regularly, I have to make wild ass guesses as to how much carbohydrate I'm consuming. On a recent trip I had some health issues, including a significant spike in my glucose readings. My A1C went from 6.9 to 8.4 and I had noticeable vision problems. I went to my ophthalmologist and he told me that I had serious retinal bleeds, and I would need injections in both my eyes. It was serious enough that he gave me the first injection in one eye that day, and the second injection in the other eye the next day. My ophthalmologist is very good and I trust him implicitly. The procedure involved antibiotic drops in my eyes, anesthetic drops, and betadine on my eyelids before the injections. The needles used were very small gauge (they looked like 32 gauge). I didn't feel any pain; just a slight feeling of pressure.

If you have a good ophthalmologist, nowadays there is little reason to fear getting injections in your eyes.