Sports and Industrial Injuries

In the United States alone, approximately 500 children will hurt their eyes today. Another 500 hurt their eyes yesterday, and still another 500 will hurt theirs tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and so on. Some of them will wind up blind.

All told, more than 167,000 children will suffer eye injuries in the United States this year. Most of these will take place while the child is playing or involved in sports, because most sports are potentially dangerous. Baseball, basketball, tennis, squash, hockey—all can lead to eye injuries, sometimes blinding eye injuries.

Even children who manage to grow up without suffering any sort of eye injury are not home free. Every day adults who work for a living suffer about 1,000 industrial eye injuries. In fact, about 19 percent of all eye accidents happen on the job. Auto accidents are responsible for an additional 8 percent of all eye injuries.

When you combine childhood accidents, work-related injuries, sports injuries, injuries at home, and those from traffic accidents, more than one million Americans suffer some sort of eye injury every year. And nearly half of them happen at home.

Eye injuries are among the most common injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms. Yet 90 percent of all eye injuries could have been—and should have been—prevented.

The following preventive tips have been compiled from advice offered by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American Optometric Association, and the National Society to Prevent Blindness.

In the House

Before you do anything in your home, be sure you can see what you're doing. Make sure you have plenty of light in every room, hallway, and stairwell in the house—including the basement, garage, attic, and any other space people use. Some other tips include:

Protective Eye Wear: It's Part of the Game

In the mid-1970s, there were more than 70,000 ice hockey–related eye injuries reported every year. Today, thanks to the helmets that are now required in the different leagues—those for the kiddies all the way up to the pros—the number is almost negligible.

Helmets, face guards, goggles, and safety glasses do work to prevent or at least limit the results of accidents at home, at work, or at play.

Most safety lenses for both industry and sports wear are made of polycarbonate, the toughest lens material available today. Once used to make bulletproof windows, polycarbonate weighs about half as much as glass, and when coated with scratch-resistant materials, it is even more resistant to welding splatter and pitting than glass is.

The sort of eye protection you need will determine how thick the lenses should be. If you don't need corrective glasses, or if you wear contact lenses, you can get your protective lenses "plain." If you have a vision problem, you can have them ground to your prescription.

To make sure you are getting safety eye wear meeting the stringent American National Standards Institute Z87 standards, look for a Z87 etched on the lenses.

Glass safety lenses are also available. They offer better protection from infrared radiation and are less likely to be damaged by chemical splatter than plastic or polycarbonate lenses.

But whether you're looking at glasses or goggles, the lenses are only part of the protection process. The frames are also important. You might consider sports frames featuring padded or rubber bridges and deep-grooved eye wires to make sure the lenses don't fall out if they get hit. You can also get frames that have been formed to give you a wider field of vision and with an attached headband so they don't fly off your face.

• Make sure all spray nozzles—whether they be on cans of hair spray, deodorant, or oven cleaner—are aimed where you want the spray to go before you press the button. Be especially careful when using hair spray to keep it away from your eyes.
• Carefully read all instructions before using any cleaning fluids, detergents, ammonia, or other harsh chemicals. Once you're done using them, wash your hands.
• Use grease shields on frying pans to reduce splattering.
• If you have a sunlamp in the house, make sure you also have goggles to protect your eyes—and use them.

In the Workshop

Workshop clutter is a contributing factor in many workshop accidents. Even when you do have enough light to see by, it won't do you much good if everything is buried under a layer of scrap wood, paper, parts, and tools. And here are some other precautions:

• Wear safety goggles or glasses.
• Read, understand, and follow the instructions for any tools or chemicals you use.
• Think about protecting your eyes—and the rest of your body—from flying fragments, sawdust, fumes, dust particles, sparks, and splashes before you begin work.

At Play

Based on past records, more than 6,000 toy-related eye injuries will be carefully wrapped and waiting under the Christmas tree this year in the form of slingshots, skateboards, and other unsafe toys.

According to experts, more than 1,000 of those injuries will be caused by BB guns. It is worth remembering—and repeating as often as required—that BB guns are not toys. They are weapons.

Toys and BB guns are not the only causes of childhood eye injuries. Screwdrivers, nails, rocks, sticks, and stones also blind children every year, especially when thrown or fallen on. Just as some toys are more dangerous than others, some children are more at risk than others. Boys are more likely to suffer eye injuries than girls, especially older boys who don't wear glasses. (Even though normal eyeglasses are not as strong or sturdy as protective or safety lenses, they do offer some protection.) Here are more safety considerations:

• Do not let young children play with toys or games that could blind them or the children they are playing with. Young children do not need darts, fireworks, BB or pellet guns, or toys with sharp edges.
• If children are playing with toys or games that could be dangerous, make sure that you or another responsible adult is there to supervise them.
• Teach children the safe way to use potentially dangerous items such as scissors, knives, sticks, and pencils.

On the Job

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, three out of every five people who suffer an on-the-job eye injury were not wearing any safety eye wear at all, and three-quarters of these victims later admitted that they did not feel it was necessary—at least not until the accident. Those injured while wearing some sort of safety eye wear were wearing items offering inadequate protection.

In many cases and for many types of jobs, there is little difference between the types of safety eye wear needed and the types worn in the home workshop or garden or for sports. There is, however, a wider variety of safety eye wear made to meet the broader range of safety needs in industry. These include:

• Eye shields that attach to safety glasses to protect the wearer from dust, flying particles, or sparks that could enter the eye from the top, bottom, or sides of the lenses. In effect, these shields convert safety glasses to safety goggles.
• Goggles that allow only indirect airflow to protect the eyes from chemicals, molten metals, and other materials that could splash as well as from dust, sparks, and flying particles.
• Face shields that provide splash protection for the entire face. They should be worn on top of goggles because they are not built to withstand a heavy impact.
• Welding or laser goggles or shields that are specifically designed to protect the eyes from the intense heat, rays, sparks, and flying debris produced by electrical arcs, welding torches, or lasers.

An Eye Safety Program for the Workplace

Because most large corporations can afford to keep a full-time safety director, they often have a much lower accident rate than smaller companies. But regardless of the size of the company, no employer can afford to do without a safety program, a program that also deals with eye safety. That is why more and more companies are retaining an optometrist or ophthalmologist as a consultant.

According to the American Optometric Association, an effective industrial eye safety program should:

• Identify eye-hazardous jobs and areas and make employees aware of them.
• Identify all workers holding eye-hazardous jobs or required to be in eye-hazardous areas, even if only to walk through them.
• Determine and specify the appropriate protective eye wear for each task and/or area.
• Provide appropriate on-the-job protective eye wear, including prescription safety eye wear if needed, to employees at no cost.
• Provide an ongoing program to educate and remind employees about the importance of wearing eye-protective equipment.
• Provide procedures for the regular inspection of eye-protective equipment and the replacement of any that is damaged.
• Be based on an established common policy regarding the use of eye safety equipment. Some companies make the wearing of eye safety equipment a mandatory condition of employment.
• Identify the enforcement staff and specify their responsibilities and authority.
• Be published in one document that is distributed and explained fully to employees.

In the Garden

More than 5,000 people suffer eye injuries every year while working in their gardens. Here's how to avoid some of the hazards:

• Do not let anyone stand on the side of or in front of a moving lawnmower.
• Pick up rocks and stones before mowing your lawn. These stones could be picked up by a lawnmower's blades and thrown out of the front, sides, or back of the mower, causing a serious injury.
• If you use any sort of pesticides, make sure the nozzles are pointed away from your face, and when you are done using these chemicals, wash your hands.
• Wear safety goggles or glasses when pruning bushes or trees, chopping wood, or using a chain saw.
• Avoid low-hanging branches.

Around the Car

Automobiles can explode. If you need light to look in your gas tank, for example, or at your battery, use a flashlight.

If you have to jump start your car, be especially careful. Remember to:

• Keep a pair of safety goggles with your jumper cables, and wear them. Battery acid can cause serious eye injuries.
• Make sure that the two cars are not touching one another.
• Be sure that the jumper cable clamps never touch one another.
• Never lean over the battery when attaching the cables.
• Attach one end of the positive (red) cable to the positive terminal of the dead battery first, and then attach the other end to the good battery.
• Attach the negative (black) cable to the negative terminal of the good battery and then and only then attach the other end to a grounded area on the engine away from the negative terminal of the dead battery. Never attach a cable to the negative terminal of the dead battery.

Around Fireworks

Fireworks maim, blind, and kill people—thousands of people every year. Every year the number of victims increases. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, two-thirds of all fireworks victims are under age 21. More than one-fourth are under age 10. Heed these warnings:

• Never use explosive fireworks.
• Never allow children to ignite any fireworks.
• Do not stand near anyone who is igniting any fireworks.

In Sports

When it comes to sports-related eye injuries, the dangers vary with age. Statistics show that the most frequent source of such injuries for children between the ages of 5 and 14 is baseball. Basketball is the leading cause for those between the ages of 15 and 24. Once you pass 25, the racquet sports are most likely to be the culprits.

Baseball. One in five sports-related eye injuries takes place on a baseball diamond, thanks in part to the simple fact that most pitchers—kids and professionals—can pitch better than most batters can duck.

If baseball is your game, a batting helmet and sports goggles should be part of it.

Basketball. The most dangerous place to be in a basketball game is beneath the backboard while a zillion elbows, arms, hands, and fingers are all scrambling for the rebound.

After suffering two serious eye injuries beneath the backboards, L. A. Lakers–great Kareem Abdul Jabbar started wearing protective goggles. You don't have to be a great athlete to wear goggles, just a smart one.

Racquet sports. A racquetball in play can reach speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour. And while the racquet itself (whether it be for racquetball, squash, tennis, or even badminton) rarely goes quite that fast, if it hits you in the eye it can blind you as quickly and as permanently as any ball can.

In fact, while the greatest threat in tennis is the tennis ball, in squash and racquet ball it's the racquet itself—and the bodies of the other players.

Your best bet is shatter-resistant sports goggles. The U.S. Squash Racquet Association requires that eye guards be worn at all professional and amateur squash tournaments, a rule that more and more racquet clubs are following for even league or casual games.

And don't forget. If you need lasses to see clearly in general, you'll need them even more on the courts. The balls and racquets fly fast—and hard—enough to do serious damage to any part of the body that they hit.

Contact sports. If you box, fence, practice karate, or play football, soccer, ice or field hockey, lacrosse, or any other contact sport, there is protective eye wear available. You can use it, or you can risk having your eyes battered by balls, pucks, sticks, knees, elbows, fingers, ice skates, feet, and cleats.

Golf. A golf ball in the head can ruin your day—and your sight. The best defense is being aware of what's going on around you. And don't stand too close to the person making a shot; a golf club in the face isn't too much fun either.

Skiing, hiking, and climbing. The more you ski, the greater your chances of developing snow blindness, thanks to all the UV light. The UV light has two chances to get you. First it hits you as it comes down from the sun. Then it has another chance at you as it reflects off the snow.

Wearing snow goggles isn't always enough. You should wear the right type of goggles for the region you are skiing in. Experts say that lenses with light tints are better for the flat light on the slopes of ski resorts in the eastern United States, while darker tints should be worn in the western part of the country because the sunlight is much more intense there.

Hikers and mountain climbers can have similar problems. And the higher your altitude—whether skiing or hiking—the more likely your eyes are to suffer a UV burn.

If you're above 10,000 feet, you could also wind up suffering from high-altitude illness, which can cause retinal hemorrhages and blurry vision. If you go above 15,000 feet, you also risk high-altitude retinopathy, which can develop when a lack of oxygen and reduced atmospheric pressure causes blood vessels in the retina to leak or rupture. It can result in temporary partial blindness.

Climbing to that height slowly, thus giving your body a chance to adjust to the changes, reduces the odds of getting hit with the problem. Exercising vigorously at high altitudes increases the risk.

In any event, the condition usually clears up on its own once the climber has come down and spent a few days with both feet firmly planted somewhere around sea level.

Fishing. Like skiers who spend their days on highly reflective snow, fishing aficionados who spend their days on highly reflective lakes or streams risk serious UV eye burns from both direct sunlight and reflected sunlight.

And that's just what the light can do to you.

A flying fish hook can cut right through your eyeball. A poke in the eye from the tip of a fishing pole can also make you wish you'd fished at a place that serves them with chips and ketchup.

Swimming. Goggles should be as much a part of your swimming gear as your bathing suit is. Chlorine and other chemicals in pools can irritate the eyes, but the irritation is temporary. Bacteria, viruses, and amoebas commonly found in swimming holes can also cause a problem.

While your goggles have to fit snugly to keep the water out of your eyes, make sure that they aren't too tight. If they are, you could wind up with a "goggles migraine." It's a throbbing headache that shows up an hour or two after swimming, apparently caused by pressure on the nerves around the eyes.

Hunting. As a rule, eye guards aren't going to stop a stray bullet, an arrow, or a charging bear. So when it comes to vision care and hunting, the emphasis is on good vision—for you and everyone else running around out there with a loaded weapon. You don't want to be mistaken for a trophy, not even one worthy of the taxidermist.

Keep in mind that many color-blind people can't see any difference between red and green, especially in poor light or at dusk. The safest and most visible color to wear is orange—the brighter the better.

Working out. Unless you have a tendency to run into barbells, working out is relatively safe as far as your eyes are concerned. But there are a couple of exceptions.

Straining can cause problems for people recovering from some eye operations. Ask your doctor what's best in your case.

Doing headstands or hanging upside down with gravity inversion boots may do wonders for your back, but those activities can also increase the blood pressure inside your retinal blood vessels as well as the pressure of the fluid within the eyeballs. As a rule, the pressure levels return to normal shortly after you turn yourself right side up again. If you are already prone to glaucoma or other eye or retinal problems, check with your eye doctor first.

On the other hand, studies have shown that normal exercising—jogging, cycling, and other activities done with your feet on the floor—may actually reduce intraocular pressure.

Eric Rost

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