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Consumer Guide to Eye Safety

By Gary Heiting, OD, Section Editor

Dr. Gary Heiting

Written by experts in eye safety, this collection of articles will help you learn how to keep your eyes and your children's eyes safe — including information on protective eyewear and how to handle common eye injuries.

Browse the Table of Contents below or watch our video on Preventing Eye Injuries.

Table of Contents

The following articles will help you learn how to keep your eyes and your children's eyes safe, and how to treat common eye injuries.

Eye Safety Basics
Learn the common causes of eye injuries at home, work and play, eye safety tips and what to do if you or a family member suffer an eye injury.

How To Handle Common Eye Injuries
Is your eye injury an emergency? This guide tells you what to do about common eye injuries such as scratches and chemical burns.

Preventing Eye Injuries
How to protect your eyes from safety hazards such as fireworks, air bags, chemicals and paintball. Plus: New Video!

Protective Eyewear for Kids
Learn how to choose protective safety glasses and sports eyewear to protect your child's eyes from injuries.

Protective Sports Eyewear
Why protective eyewear is essential for sports and key features to look for in sports eyewear, based on your particular sport. Also, important fitting considerations for kids.

Safety Glasses and Eye Safety Q&A
Questions about safety glasses and eye safety answered by experienced eye doctors at AllAboutVision.com.

Safety Glasses and Goggles: Your Guide to Protective Eyewear
What you need to know about safety glasses and goggles, including details about protective eyewear standards.

Toys and Eye Safety
Learn how to choose toys that are appropriate for your child's age and how to avoid toys that are especially risky for potential eye injuries.

Eye Safety News

Visual Evaluation Needed After Any Traumatic Brain Injury, Says Study

February 2013 — Researchers have found that as many as 65 percent of people who sustain traumatic brain injury (TBI) develop associated vision problems. The vision problems occurred whether the trauma was blast-related, such as TBI sustained by Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans from explosions in combat, or non-blast-related, such as TBI sustained by civilians in auto accidents, falls or other trauma.

TBI-related vision problems included light sensitivity, eye movement dysfunction, focusing problems and eye teaming problems. Related symptoms included eye strain and difficulty reading.

What's striking is that despite these vision problems, most of the patients had normal visual acuity. The researchers suggested that anyone with TBI should have a comprehensive vision examination, regardless of the cause or severity of their injury.

The study report appeared in the February issue of Optometry & Vision Science.

[Page updated March 2013]