We often hear of eye injuries at work. But, do you know that while away from work and enjoying the holidays, eye injuries can occur? Eye injuries during holidays are caused by play and fun materials that are sometimes hazardous when used incorrectly or without eye protection. The common ones include:
Fireworks
Fireworks cause eye injuries if particles projected from the blast enter the eyes. Due to the high strength of explosion and heat generated, they often cause more than one type of injury with an increased risk of vision loss. The common types of injuries are scratches, tears and burns. They can also cause penetration injuries. To prevent eye injuries due to fireworks;
- Wear appropriate safety eyewear when handling fireworks
- Children should not be allowed to handle fireworks
- If you are a bystander where fireworks are displayed, watch from a safe distance.
Bottle cork
Bottle corks as well as other objects commonly used for play/fun during holidays (e.g. darts, slingshot, toy gun ammunition) can turn into projectiles and cause serious eye damage if they hit the eye. To prevent eye injuries due to bottle corks,
- Chill the wine before opening it. The cooler the wine, the lower the chance of the cork popping unexpectedly.
- Don’t shake the bottle before opening it. Shaking the bottle increases the speed at which the cork leaves the bottle thereby increasing the risk of eye injury.
- To remove the cork, point it at an angle of 45 degrees away from yourself and other people and then hold the cork down with one palm while removing the wire around it with the other hand.
Toys
Many children suffer toy-related injuries during holidays because it is during this period that they play most with toys. For this reason, it’s important that parents carefully consider the type of toys they buy for their children. To avoid toy-related eye injuries,
- Avoid toys with sharp edges.
- Choose well-assembled toys that are shatterproof. This helps prevent eye injuries that are caused by flying pieces of broken toys.
- Ensure that children wear eye protection while playing with projectile toys (e.g. toy guns and darts)
As the Christmas holidays get closer, it is important you watch out for these causes of eye injuries and take appropriate precautions to protect your eyes.
