Preventing Eye Injuries
Experts say more than 90 percent of eye injuries can be prevented by simply taking a few precautions and wearing safety glasses.
If you use a lawn mower, leaf-blower, drill or similar power tools, you need protective eyewear. These glasses should have a snug, wrap-style frame to decrease the likelihood of small, airborne particles getting behind the lenses.
If you wear corrective lenses, hardware stores sell inexpensive goggles that will usually fit over your glasses. But a better and more comfortable option is to purchase a pair of customized safety eyewear with polycarbonate lenses from an eye care practitioner.
PREVENTING INJURY AT WORK
Common Risk Factors for Occupational Eye Injuries Include Working Overtime
Want to reduce eye injury risk where you work? Step one is to wear appropriate protective eyewear. But consider these eye injury risk factors as well:
- Being distracted
- Using tools
- Tool malfunction
- Performing an unfamiliar task
- Being rushed
- Working overtime
- Feeling fatigued
These are all important contributors to on-the-job eye injuries, according to a study of patients treated in the emergency department at an Alabama eye hospital. A report of the study appeared in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine. — L.S.
Eye Safety and Air Bags
Since 1989, when air bags were first required in autos sold in the United States, these safety devices have saved thousands of lives. But there has been plenty of controversy about the risk/reward of air bags; many people have sustained significant injuries from them, and deaths have even been attributed to air bag deployment.
Newer vehicles are equipped with air bags that deploy with less force than first-generation bags, making them safer.
Though it's possible to sustain a corneal abrasion or other eye injury from your vehicle's air bags during an accident, you would be at risk of much more serious injuries (including eye injuries from a shattered windshield) without these safety devices when traveling at highway speeds.
To reduce your risk of injury to your eyes and head from air bags:
- Make sure you are wearing your seatbelt and that it's properly adjusted.
- Adjust the headrest of your seat for proper support.
- Sit at least 10 inches away from the steering wheel.
- Don't smoke while driving.
- Have children sit in the back seat with seatbelts and safety seats properly adjusted.
Laser Pointers
Laser pointers shine a focused beam of high intensity light, usually red, and are commonly used in corporate and classroom presentations to highlight specific points or images on media screens.
Looking directly at the light beam of a laser pointer can cause temporary vision loss and even permanent damage to the retina. This was learned after children and young adults began purchasing laser pointers and using them as toys.
Also, laser pointers began to be used as sighting devices for paintball guns. Because of the potential for eye injuries, the FDA has now mandated that laser pointers carry warning labels mentioning possible retinal damage.
In 2010, the American Academy of Ophthalmology issued a consumer warning about high-powered laser pointers that are even more dangerous than other types. The organization cited the case of a teenaged boy who suffered retinal injuries while playing with the pointer in front of a mirror. The case was reported in the Sept. 8 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The U.S. legal limit for handheld laser power is 5 mW, but the injured boy had purchased a 150 mW device on the Internet. Often such devices are advertised as toys and are not labeled as hazardous.
The Academy advised not pointing lasers near the eye or near reflective surfaces.
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