Your Eyes Are A Precious Gift–Protect Them During The Holidays
The holiday season does present a real eye injury threat. For those who celebrate Christmas, that risk begins even before the actual day. Some of the most frequent holiday-related eye injuries come from the Christmas tree itself. Holiday eye safety begins with the acquisition of the tree. If you are cutting down your own tree, please wear eye protection when doing the cutting–especially if you are going to be using a mechanical saw such as a chain saw. You also need to be careful of your eyes when loading a tree on top of the car. It is easy to get poked in the eye when heaving the tree up over your head. Once back at home, take care to make sure no one else is standing close to the tree if you had it wrapped and now need to cut the netting off. The tree branches often spring out suddenly once the netting is released.
Other injuries occur in the mounting and decorating phase. Sharp needles, pointy lights, and glass ornaments all pose significant eye injury risk. If you are spraying anything like artificial tree snow on the branches be sure to keep those chemicals out of your eyes. Having now successfully trimmed the tree without injury, let’s move talk toys.
We want to spend the holiday happily exchanging gifts in front of a warm fire, drinking some eggnog, and snacking on cookies–not going to the emergency room with an injury.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission reported there were 254,200 toy-related emergency room visits in 2015, with 45% of those being injuries to the head and face–including the eyes.
In general, here are the recommendations from the American Academy of Ophthalmology in choosing eye-safe toys for gifts:
More specifically, there is a yearly list of the most dangerous toys of the season put out by the people at W.A.T.C.H. (world against toys causing harm).
Here are their 10 worst toy nominees for 2018, with four on the list that are specifically there for potential eye injury risk.
Here are other toys to avoid:
There are plenty of great toys and games out there that pose much lower risk of injury so choose wisely, practice good Christmas eye safety, and have a great holiday season!
Article contributed by Dr. Brian Wnorowski, M.D.
This blog provides general information and discussion about eye health and related subjects. The words and other content provided in this blog, and in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice. If the reader or any other person has a medical concern, he or she should consult with an appropriately licensed physician.
ARTICLE SOURCE: https://www.eyecareprofessionals.net/blog/374-eye-safety-during-the-holidays