Accidents resulting in serious eye injuries can happen to anyone, but are particularly common in children and young adults. More than 90% of all eye injuries can be prevented with appropriate supervision and protective eyewear.

Goggles and face protection can prevent injuries in sports like baseball, basketball, racket sports, and hockey. It is more difficult to protect against injuries in boxing, though thumbless gloves help.

People who must rely on only one good eye should wear polycarbonate safety glasses all the time and should wear safety goggles for sports and other dangerous activities. Choose frames and lenses that meet the American National Standards Institute standard for safety (Z87.1).

Appropriate adult supervision is key in preventing all eye injuries. Children should never be allowed to play with fireworks or BB guns. Sharp and fast-moving objects, such as darts, arrows, scissors, knives, and even pencils or pens can be dangerous. Special care should be taken when working around lawn mowers, which can throw rocks and debris, and when banging two pieces of metal together, which can dislodge small shards of metal. Chemicals such as toilet cleaners and drain openers are especially hazardous.

A primary care physician or an emergency room can treat minor injuries, such as a foreign body or an abrasion (scratch) on the cornea. Any foreign material must be removed from the eye. An antibiotic drop or ointment may be applied, perhaps with an eye patch for comfort.

More serious injuries, like blood inside the eye (hyphema), a laceration (cut), or rupture of the eye, require examination by an ophthalmologist. Both surgery and hospitalization may be necessary.

Chemicals that burn should be rinsed from the eye immediately. The ultimate outcome depends on the severity of the injury, which cannot always be identified in the initial examination.

 

From: Children's Eye Safety
Eyecare Associates of East Texas
http://www.eyecaretyler.com/pediatrics.htm

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People are often confused about the importance of glasses for children. Some believe that if children wear glasses when they are young, they won't need them later. Others think wearing glasses as a child makes one dependent on them later. Neither is true. Children need glasses because they are genetically nearsighted, farsighted, or astigmatic. These conditions do not go away nor do they get worse because they are not corrected. Glasses or contacts are necessary throughout life for good vision.

nearsightedness (distant objects appear blurry) typically begins between the ages of eight and fifteen but can start earlier. farsightedness is actually normal in young children and not a problem as long as it is mild. If a child is too farsighted, vision is blurry or the eyes cross when looking closely at things. This is usually apparent around the age of two. Almost everyone has some amount of astigmatism (oval instead of round cornea). Glasses are required only if the astigmatism is strong.

Unlike adults, children who need glasses may develop a second problem, called Amblyopia or Lazy eye. Amblyopia means even with the right prescription, one eye (or sometimes both eyes) does not see normally. Amblyopia is more likely to occur if the prescription needed to correct one eye is stronger than the other. Wearing glasses can prevent amblyopia from developing in the more out-of-focus eye.

Children (and adults) who do not see well with one eye because of amblyopia, or because of any other medical problem that cannot be corrected, should wear safety glasses to protect the normal eye.

 

From the article: Children and Vision
Eyecare Associates of East Texas
http://www.eyecaretyler.com/pediatrics.htm

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