Most Eye Injuries Happen at Home — and Most Never Have To
Nobody plans an eye injury. It happens on an ordinary Saturday: a twig kicked up by the mower, a splash of bleach while scrubbing the tub, a nail that flies instead of sinking into wood.
October is Eye Injury Prevention Month. Now is a good time to look at where these injuries really happen, and how little it takes to stop them.
The danger is closer than you think
Most people picture eye injuries on factory floors and construction sites. The numbers from the American Academy of Ophthalmology point somewhere else: home.
Nearly half of all eye injuries happen in or around the house.
Home repairs, yard work, cleaning and cooking cause more than 40% of them.
Household cleaning chemicals such as bleach cause about 125,000 eye injuries every year.
More than 78% of people injured were wearing no eyewear at all when it happened.
Protective eyewear can cut the risk of an eye injury by 90%. Yet only about three in ten people wear it during home projects!
Your everyday glasses are not safety glasses
If you wear prescription glasses, it is easy to assume your eyes are covered. They are not. Everyday frames and lenses are made to help you see, not to stop a flying chip of wood or a splash from the side.
Real protective eyewear is tested for impact and marked ANSI Z87.1, the American National Standards Institute safety standard. Many styles are made to fit right over the glasses you already wear.
The Academy urges every household to keep at least one ANSI-approved pair. A basic pair costs less than most of the tools it protects you from.
Five habits that protect your sight
Keep protective eyewear where the work happens. Hang a pair in the garage and tuck one under the kitchen sink. Eyewear you have to hunt for is eyewear you skip.
Walk the yard before you mow or trim. Pick up sticks, stones and toys. Mowers and trimmers turn small debris into projectiles.
Read the label before you spray. Never mix cleaning products, point the nozzle away from your face and keep the room ventilated.
Protect the people watching. Children love to help with chores. Bystanders need eye protection too, or they need to step away from the work or observe from an appropriate distance.
Suit up for sports. Regular glasses and sunglasses are not sports protection. Ask an eye care professional about protective eyewear made for the game you and/or your child plays.
If it happens anyway
The first minutes matter, and the right response depends on the injury. The Academy's first-aid guidance recommends:
Chemical splash: flush the eye with plenty of clean water right away, then get emergency care.
Sand, dust or grit: do not rub. Blink, let tears work, and rinse with saline or clean water.
A blow to the eye: apply a small cold compress gently, with no pressure. Call a doctor if pain, a black eye or vision changes follow.
A cut or puncture: do not rinse, rub or remove anything stuck in the eye. Shield it loosely, such as with the bottom of a paper cup, and get emergency help.
Take every eye injury seriously. Some do not look serious until they are, so have a doctor examine the eye as soon as possible.
This is general information, not medical advice!
Safety starts with seeing clearly
Every tip above assumes one thing: that you can see the hazard in the first place. You can read the warning label. You can see the ladder rung, the stone in the grass, the edge of the blade.
For people who need glasses and cannot afford them, that is not a given. Blurry vision turns ordinary tasks into guesswork, at home and on the job.
That is where New Eyes comes in. Since 1932, we have helped people facing financial hardship get the prescription eyeglasses they need. Today our eVoucher program reaches children and adults across the United States, at no cost to them.
New Eyes glasses are everyday prescription glasses, not safety eyewear. But clear sight is the first layer of protection, and it is one that too many of our neighbors go without.
This October, protect your own eyes. Then help someone else see. A gift of $25 provides a new pair of prescription glasses for a person in need. Give at new-eyes.org.
Sources
American Academy of Ophthalmology, Eye Injury Prevention
American Academy of Ophthalmology, Eye Safety at Home: Preventing Eye Injuries
American Academy of Ophthalmology, Recognizing and Treating Eye Injuries