Sports That Top the List for Leading Causes of Eye Injuries

Sports That Top the List for Leading Causes of Eye Injuries

Basketball, Baseball and Air/Paintball Guns Top the List of Leading Causes of Eye Injuries

Scottsdale Eye Physicians and Surgeons and the American Academy of Ophthalmology offer guidance on how to protect sight during Sports Eye Safety Month in April. 

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Ophthalmologists Say Work Related Eye Injuries Can be Avoided

Ophthalmologists Say Work Related Eye Injuries Can be Avoided

On-the-job safety goes well beyond avoiding slips, falls, and heavy lifting. Caring for your eyes should be a high priority and part of an overall workplace wellness routine. This is important because each day, about 2,000 U.S. workers sustain work related eye injuries that requires medical treatment[1]. However, 90 percent of these accidents can be avoided by wearing eye protection[2]. As part of an ongoing effort to stress the importance of workplace eye wellness, Scottsdale Eye Physicians and Surgeons and the American Academy of Ophthalmology, during the month of March, is encouraging the public to do right by their eyes and wear appropriate eye protection.

Caring for your eyes on the job should not be limited to those who do physical labor. People who spend long hours working on a computer can experience eye discomfort and work related eye injuries. Focusing on small font type for hours on end can cause eye strain, fatigue, and headaches. Staring at screens for long periods can also leave eyes parched and red, causing eyes to become dry from lack of blinking. This happens frequently as computer screens or other digital displays reduce a person’s blink rate by as much as 50 percent[5].

The Academy provides tips to help avoid work related eye injuries:

  • Wear protective eyewear: Ensure that your eye protection is appropriate for the type of hazard that may be present in your workplace, such flying debris, falling objects, chemicals, intense light, and heat. Your eyewear must be American National Standards Institute ANSI-approved and OSHA compliant. You must use special-purpose safety glasses, goggles, face shield or helmet if you are near hazardous radiation welding, chemicals, lasers or fiber optics.
  • Position your computer 25 inches away: If you are working on a desktop computer, try placing the monitor at an arm’s length away from your face. You may need to adjust the font size to appear larger at that distance.
  • Follow the 20-20-20 rule: Eye strain and dry eye occur after long, continuous periods of viewing digital screens up close. To help alleviate this, take a break every 20 minutes by looking at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Looking at a distance allows your eyes to relax and return to a regular rate of blinking again. Normally, people blink about 14 times a minute[6] and with every blink, your eyes are lubricated with fluid that contains moisturizing elements, including oil.
  • Reduce glare on your smartphone and digital screen: While many new phones and digital devices have glass screens with excellent picture quality, they also produce a strong glare that can aggravate the eyes. If you use a glass screen device, adjust the low light filter setting to lower screen brightness or use a matte filter to reduce eye strain.
  • Adjust environmental lighting at your work: If your computer screen is brighter than your office surroundings, your eyes need to work harder to see. You can reduce eye strain by adjusting the lighting in your surroundings.

 

“It takes only a few seconds to protect yourself from eye related issues that can cause vision problems,” said Brenda Pagán-Durán, M.D., a clinical spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “I can’t stress enough the importance of incorporating eye wellness into your daily routine; whether it’s simply adjusting the setting on your computer monitor, or wearing appropriate protection to avoid serious eye injury. This is truly an ounce of prevention that can safeguard your vision.”

Taking care of your vision is important and having your eyes examined frequently is the first step in preventive care!  Call our office at 480-994-1872 to make an appointment or visit or online at www.scottsdaleeye.com/appointment 

 

[1] https://nei.nih.gov/sites/default/files/health-pdfs/HVMPreventingInjuries_Tagged.pdf

[2] http://www.ishn.com/articles/103615-of-workplace-eye-injuries-could-be-lessened-or-prevented-with-safety-eyewear-use

[3] https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/eyefaceprotection

[4] http://www.ishn.com/articles/98066-workplace-eye-injuries-by-the-numbers

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21275516

[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17099391

 

Don’t Let an Eye Injury Ruin Your Valentine’s Day

Don’t Let an Eye Injury Ruin Your Valentine’s Day

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and love is in the air.  But, if champagne corks go flying, an eye injury could turn your sweet celebration into a real-life nightmare!

 

Every year, improper cork-removal techniques cause serious, potentially blinding eye injuries.

A champagne cork can fly up to 50 miles per hour as it leaves the bottle – fast enough to shatter glass.

At such high speeds, you have no time to react and protect your eye.  That’s why it’s so important to learn how to open a bottle of bubbly correctly and avoid flying corks in the first place.

 

This Valentine’s Day, our ophthalmologist reminds you to be safe when opening champagne bottles.

Before your champagne toast, watch this video demonstration of how to properly open a champagne bottle to prevent an eye injury.

 

In the event that an eye injury does occur, seek medical help from an ophthalmologist immediately.

For more information or to schedule an appointment with our ophthalmologist please call our office at 480-994-1872.

October is Eye Injury Prevention Month

October is Eye Injury Prevention Month

October is Eye Injury Prevention Month! 

You might think that the family home is a fairly unthreatening setting. And responses to a recent public survey commissioned by the American Academy of Ophthalmology show that people generally agree.

  • Less than half of survey respondents mentioned the home — especially the yard or garage — as the most common site of serious eye injury.
  • Only 35 percent of those surveyed always wear protective eyewear when doing home repair or projects.

However, medical statistics tell a different story: nearly half of all eye injuries each year occur in and around the home, and home-based injuries are increasing each year.

This alarming trend is why the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Ocular Trauma now recommend that every household have at least one pair of ANSI-approved protective eyewear for use during projects and activities that may present risk of injury. (ANSI-approved protective eyewear is manufactured to meet the American National Standards Institute eye protection standard.) Here are some common places for eye injuries to occur:

In the house:

  • Using hazardous products and chemicals, such as oven cleaner and bleach for cleaning and other chores (accidents involving common household products cause 125,000 eye injuries each year)
  • Cooking foods that can splatter hot grease or oil
  • Opening champagne bottles during a celebration
  • Drilling or hammering screws or nails into walls or hard surfaces like brick or cement; the screws or nails can become projectiles or fragments can come off the surface
  • Using hot objects such as curling irons around the face; inadvertent contact with the user’s eyes can cause serious injury
  • Loose rugs and railings or other hazards that could cause falls or slips

In the yard:

  • Mowing the lawn
  • Using a power trimmer or edger
  • Clipping hedges and bushes

In the garage or workshop:

  • Using tools (power or hand)
  • Working with solvents or other chemicals
  • Any task that can produce fragments, dust particles or other eye irritants
  • Securing equipment or loads with bungee cords

For more eye-healthy tips, visit geteyesmart.org.

 

This article reprinted with permission from the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s EyeSmart® program (www.geteyesmart.org).