Children’s Eye Safety: Preventing Injuries

August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month! So, we’ve chosen to focus on providing prevention tips as a key safety step to minimizing eye injuries in children.

Thousands of children sustain eye damage and even blindness from accidents while at home and on-the-go. And according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), 90 percent of all eye injuries are preventable.

Follow these best practices within your home:

• Keep harmful sprays or chemicals out of reach and locked away.
• Use caution with common items that have the potential to cause injury, such as paper clips, pencils, scissors, wire hangers and rubber bands.
• Provide age-appropriate toys that meet national safety standards. Avoid toys with sharp points (e.g. arrows or darts).
• Have your child wear protective eyewear when helping with yard work, repair projects and other potentially dangerous tasks.
• Use safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs. Pad or cushion sharp corners throughout your home.
• Don’t let your child play with non-powder rifles, pellet guns or BB guns.
• Don’t allow your child near fireworks. Bottle rockets and other fireworks pose a significant risk of eye injury.

Check out the HSI Emergency Care blog for more prevention tips for situations outside of the home. And for information about responding to eye injuries in children.