Preventing Eye Injuries

By Liz Segre, with updates by Gary Heiting, OD

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 eyecare practitioner.

Workplace Eye Safety Programs

In U.S. workplaces that involve any kind of airborne particles or noxious chemicals, employers must adhere to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines for protective eyewear and emergency eyecare.

If you or your employer is unsure of which guidelines apply to your workplace, check out the OSHA web pages on these topics:

• Eye and face protection
• General industry standards
• State plans
• State plan publications & training materials

Most protective eyewear standards require employers to provide prescription safety lenses to employees who need corrective eyewear. An alternative is to provide a shield that will cover and protect the employee's own eyeglasses. Some types of work require safety glasses, others require safety shields and still others require safety shields worn over safety glasses.

Be sure that you fully understand the risks for eye injuries at your workplace and the most appropriate type of safety eyewear you should use. Employers should also consult with an eye doctor who is familiar with safety eyewear programs for additional insight beyond the information available from OSHA.

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, Champagne Corks and Fireworks

Laser pointers. These devices 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 U.S. Food and Drug Administration has now mandated that laser pointers carry warning labels mentioning possible retinal damage.

Champagne corks. During a celebration, you're probably not thinking about eye damage. But a flying cork from a bottle of champagne can rupture an eyeball or detach a retina, both of which can cause blindness.

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, this happens more often with champagne bottles that haven't been fully chilled, because the corks come out much more forcefully.

To prevent injury, point the cork away from yourself and others while opening the bottle. Place a towel over the cork, and keep your hand on the cork as you remove it with a twisting action, rather than pushing under the cork. Don't worry, it will still make that delightful "pop," and you and your friends will be much safer!

Fireworks. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 10,800 people were treated in hospital emergency departments for fireworks-related injuries in 2005. The CDC also notes that:

• Children ages 10 to 14 had the highest rate of fireworks-related injuries.
• 25 percent of fireworks-related injuries involve eye damage.
• The most common eye injuries from fireworks were contusions, lacerations and foreign bodies.
• Sparklers were associated with more than half of the fireworks-related injuries to children under age 5.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology offers these safety tips:

• Never let children play with any fireworks.
• View fireworks from at least 500 feet away.
• Only trained professionals should light fireworks.
• Don't touch any unexploded fireworks remains. Instead, notify the fire or police department.

Eye Injuries Related to Paintball

Without proper eye and head protection, people can receive devastating injuries from paintball guns. Some guns are capable of propelling paint pellets at speeds over 180 mph.

The most important rule for paintball is this: Never take off your head shield, which should combine eye and ear protection. Commercial paintball fields require that you keep a head shield on at all times when you're in the playing area, even when a game has not yet begun. Most documented paintball-related eye injuries have occurred when players removed their shields, even for just a few seconds.

Paintball injuries include traumatic cataracts, detached retinas, hyphema (bleeding inside the eye), glaucoma, orbital (eye socket) blowout fractures and rupturing of the eyeball. Paintball-related eye injuries can result in permanent vision loss and even blindness.

If you're still not convinced of the importance of wearing protective gear while playing paintball, consider these statistics:

In a 2007 retrospective study of paintball-related eye injuries treated at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute (Miami), 86 percent (31) of the patients were men, and only one had been wearing protective eyewear. Among this group of injuries, surgery was required to treat 81 percent of the cases.

Eight eyes (22 percent) were so badly damaged that they had to be surgically removed. Even after treatment, vision was 20/200 or worse (legally blind) in 18 (50 percent) of the injured eyes, according to the study.

The common warning that you'll "put out an eye" if you're not careful actually can be true, particularly when you are engaged in certain types of work, home and sports activities. Unlike other parts of the body that can heal after a serious injury, your unprotected eye — and your vision — may never fully recover from certain wounds.

Read more about protective sports eyewear.

Eye Safety and Workplace Safety Basics Guide to Eye Injuries | Preventing Eye Injuries Safety Glasses and Safety Goggles | Eye Doctor Q&A on Eye Safety

[Page updated May 2008]