How to prevent eye injuries
Did you know that the majority of eye injuries occur as a result of accidents at home? As it’s Eye Injury Prevention Month, our team has put together a guide to help you be proactive about looking after your eyes, and what eye protection is most suitable for you.
How can you prevent eye injuries?
Have you identified different hazards that could harm your eyes at home? A great example of this is having cleaning products within easy reach of children. After conducting a thorough assessment of potential risks, it’s time to think about what measures you can implement to ensure your eyes can remain as safe as possible from injury in the house.
In the home
As indicated previously, cleaning products can irritate or damage your eyes as they contain strong chemicals. One simple step you can take is to wear gloves, so you don’t accidentally transfer any of them onto your eyes.
It’s also a good idea to read any packaging for instructions or warnings, and generally avoid mixing products together, as they may cause a reaction that produces vapors that can cause red, itchy, and burning eyes.
Outdoors
Doing yard work like mowing the lawn can surprisingly contain risks too, as debris can fly up if something is on your grass straight into your eye. Nobody wants to deal with an ER visit for serious abrasions, scratches, or cuts, so we recommend wearing safety goggles, or even sunglasses with good coverage to shield your eyes when it’s sunny.
The great thing about wearing sunglasses is that they’ll also protect your eyes from UV rays, which can damage the back of your eyes over years of cumulative exposure.
If you ever plan on celebrating an event with fireworks or sparklers, it’s essential that you use them safely by making sure you stand a long distance away and place them facing away from you and other spectators. Burns and eye injuries are very common during seasons when fireworks are used regularly. You should also supervise your kids when using sparklers – they’re actually the cause of more firework-related injuries for children under the age of 5! Again, safety goggles would come in handy here for extra protection, in addition to gloves.
Prevent eye injuries in children
Children naturally have a lot of energy and lead very active lives, so if they play sports, we advise investing in sports eyewear specifically made to protect them, or even impact-resistant lenses in their regular glasses.
Treatment for eye injuries
You should get help straight away if you think you’ve injured your eye. Our highly experienced optometrists can assess your eyes and the severity of your eye injury, so we can then provide the best solution, including any hospital referrals if necessary for urgent treatment.
Feel free to contact us and speak with our optometrists in Belleville, Kingston, Trenton, and Picton – we’re happy to help and provide peace of mind about your eyes!