Eye Injury Prevention

Our eyes are incredibly delicate, and preventing injury helps us maintain good vision and avoid serious medical complications.

You can avoid serious eye injuries by awareness of eye safety. We hope this article will increase your awareness of the instances you need to protect your eyes and what actions you can take at that moment for eye injury prevention.

Where do eye injuries commonly occur?

At Home

Any home activity involving sparks, flying objects, or bright light sources can risk an injured eye. These activities include using a lawnmower or weed trimmer, hammering a nail while doing house repairs, cooking over a hot stove, and mishandling household products.

While Playing Sports

Eye injuries in playing sports and leisure activities are unavoidable when not taking precautions and are very common in high-impact sports, as an opponent's hand or elbow may hit you. Some scenarios that may cause eye injuries, include hitting a ball or other object, flying debris from equipment or the field, poorly-fitted safety eyewear, falls while playing sport, and accidents involving racquets.

At Work

Workplace eye injuries are most common in factories, construction and dealing with chemicals due to exposure to bright lights such as welding torches and dust particles in the air, in contact with sharp objects, and near machinery that emits debris.

How to Prevent Eye Injuries at Home

Eye protection at home is essential because it can help protect your eyes from eye injury due to accidents or environmental factors when furnishing and home fixtures. Common examples of eye protection at home include:

• Keep all household chemical products stored in a safe area.

• Keep home maintenance tools in good condition. If a tool is no longer in good condition, replace or dispose it.

• Use safety glasses or dust goggles to protect your eyes against flying particles while doing yard work or home repair.

• Wear eye protection, such as chemical safety goggles while handling hazardous solvents.

• Always read and follow manufacturer instructions and warning labels when handling chemicals.

• Do not mix different chemical agents.

• Use a splatter guard while frying food at very high temperatures for protection against the splattering of hot oil.

• Keep a safe distance from open flames while cooking or grilling.

• Keep curling irons or straightening irons away from the eyes.

• Do not look directly at explosive or projectile devices (such as fireworks, sparklers, or bottle corks).

Kids' Eye Protection at Home and Play

It is essential to know the different methods of eye safety for kids, both at home and when playing games, to improve the safety of eyes from potential hazards, reduce the chances of eye injury and keep kids healthy. It includes:

• Secure stairs by installing safety gates at the stairs' top and bottom.

• Cushion furniture and fixtures by placing padding on sharp corners.

• Secure kitchen and bathroom cabinets and drawers by installing locks.

• Keep cosmetics, toiletry products, kitchen utensils, and desk supplies away from children.

• Keep hazardous household chemicals away from children.

• Avoid toys that have sharp edges or anything pointed on their surface.

• Read the toy package for any manufacturer instructions or warning labels while handling the toy.

• Keep projectile-firing toys away from small children.

• Keep age-appropriate toys.

• When driving in a car, use child-safety seats to keep children secure while the car is moving.

• When driving in a car, secure any loose item that could harm the child in the event of a sudden break.

How to Prevent Eye Injury While Playing Sports and While Outdoors

Wearing safety eyewear outdoors helps in preventing eye injuries caused by flying projectiles and other hazards during a game that could lead to permanent vision loss. It includes:

• Wear protective eyewear or safety goggles for physical sports.

• Use the appropriate helmets with polycarbonate face shields for baseball and hockey.

• Wear safety sports-appropriate and UV-safety eyewear or goggles for outdoor sports such as skiing and cycling.

• Wear safety glasses with UV protection when outside and there is heavy and prolonged sun exposure (such as at the beach or when hiking) to avoid sun damage to the eyes.

How to Prevent Eye Injury at Work

Proper eye protection is essential in any work environment, as it can help in preventing eye injuries and keeps you safe on the job.

For Medical and Manual Labour Jobs:

• Wear eye protection that is appropriately fitted to maximise the safety of the eyes.

Wearing ill-fitting protective eyewear can impede one's vision and cause physical irritation and discomfort due to inadequate coverage or an incorrect fit. If you wear eye protection that does not fit properly and is loose on your face, it may easily slip off during work activities and put you at risk of experiencing an eye injury.

• Be familiar with the hazards of the job and prepare for scenarios where you will need protective eyewear.

• Be familiar with the symptoms of eye injury and the first response needed so that you can seek medical attention immediately.

For Desk Jobs:

• Keep the monitor away from the eyes by at least 40cm.

• Minimise discomfort from screen glare and blue light by using a glare reduction filter or keeping computer monitors clean to maximise clarity.

• Get a thorough eye exam yearly to ensure eye health from prolonged screen exposure daily.

• Wear anti-fatigue or BlueControl-coated lenses to prevent or diminish digital eye strain.

Conclusion

Precautions will help protect our eyes from permanent damage and preserve our vision for many years. From taking the appropriate measures to protect our eyes from everyday home hazards to ensure optimal eye health with regular optometrist visits for professional medical help, we can help safeguard our vision from any serious injury.