The Most Common Eye Injuries and How to Prevent Them

Every year, eye doctors deal with about 2.4 million eye injuries, some fatal to sight. But most are minor injuries that do not endanger sight, and people often recover from them without intervention.

However, the serious ones often require immediate medical attention to preserve sight and mitigate eye damage. While treatment is critical, prevention is essential to preserving your eyesight.

Black Eyes

These are the most common eye injuries, often minor ones that resolve on their own. They can occur from contact sports, accidents on the playground, or car accidents and typically cause pain and swelling.

While they are usually minor, the blunt force trauma that causes a black eye can have a much more severe effect. Sometimes, blunt force trauma can cause an orbital blowout fracture, which endangers the eye, surrounding tissues, and structures. Orbital fractures require immediate medical attention to limit the damage they can cause.

Prevention

Eye protection is the best defense against blunt force trauma resulting in an orbital fracture. This is especially applicable when you are engaged in contact sports like lacrosse and baseball.

Foreign Object

It is common to have a small foreign object enter your eye, such as a grain of dust or lint or your own eyelash. However, you can have a larger object or a small hard object embed itself in your eye.

Objects that embed themselves in your eye require complex medical interventions like surgery to eliminate. Some of these can scratch the cornea and expose your eye to infection that can endanger your sight. Others perforate the eye and may cause permanent damage or blindness if not treated early.

Prevention

Eye protection equipment like safety goggles is the best protection against such injuries. Many of these occur when working with power tools or when objects fly through the air. Safety goggles will keep the projectiles from entering your eye, and they are usually strong enough to resist various materials.

Caustic Burns

Caustic burns are common at home and in some workplaces dealing with different chemicals. Various substances might seriously harm your eyes if you do not receive treatment promptly. Simple household chemicals like cleaning fluids, shampoo, or gardening chemicals can be dangerous.

Caustic burns fall under two main categories, acids and alkalis, with alkali burns being more dangerous. When chemicals splash in your eyes, you first must flush your eyes with plenty of water and seek medical attention immediately.

Prevention

Protective wear like safety goggles and gloves are an excellent way to protect yourself against caustic burns. To ensure that you handle chemicals properly, you must read the directions on the chemicals you intend to use.

Photokeratitis

This condition occurs when you expose your eyes to too much UV or sunlight without protection. During the summer, it is one of the most frequent injuries that eye physicians treat, and the typical symptoms include pain and hazy vision. Without treatment, photokeratitis can lead to other severe problems like cataracts or corneal ulcers.