Issue 34.17
Yesterday as part of my weekly routine, I went out to our shed and pulled out a gallon of muriatic acid. It was time to add some acid to our pool, my weekly chore. Any pool owner can tell you the importance of keeping a good balance of chemicals to ensure safe swimming. I twisted off the child resistant’ bottle cap and proceeded to peel off the inner safety seal on the top of the gallon.
Perhaps I was in a rush to get it done and was pulling a little harder than normal when suddenly I felt an intense sting in my left eye. After a second of shock, I realized that I had pulled off the safety seal completely and a drop of acid that had been clinging to the underside of seal had flown into my left eye. As I gave myself a tongue lashing I hurried into the house and ran my eye under tap water for a full minute, chastened myself again and then repeated the process. All evening my eye was dry and irritated necessitating frequent applications of over the counter lubricating eye drops. Thankfully no harm was done and my vision was not affected…I was one of the lucky ones.
Eye injuries can happen at anytime and anywhere but most especially at work. Work related eye injuries are unfortunately an all too common occurrence. “According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 20,000 workplace eye injuries happen each year. Injuries on the job often require one or more missed work days for recovery. In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that workplace eye injuries cost an estimated $300 million a year in lost productivity, medical treatment and worker compensation.”1
Let’s be smart about eye safety. Please use eye protection when working with and around welding, woodworking, hammering, drilling, etc. and yes when working with hazardous chemicals. Many blinding injuries can and will be prevented if we don’t let our guard down in this area.
Another school year has begun and the worry for kids’ eye safety has increased once again. We are of course concerned about eye safety year round but the truth is that as a new school year starts the number of kids involved in sporting activities increases as well. “According to the
National Eye Institute, eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children in the United
States and most injuries occurring i n school-aged children are s ports- related.2
These injuries account for an estimated 100,000 physician visits p er year at a cost of more than $175 million.”3
With sporting endeavors the risk of eye injury increases dramatically, especially those events using a ball, racket or any flying object. It is not only the flying objects that concern eye providers but the fingers, hands, and elbows from the poking and jabbing during the melee of the game.
Educating kids and grandkids about the importance of protecting your eyes cannot be understated. Protective eye wear can and should be worn during sporting events to ensure adequate eye protection. A 2002 study by Harrison and Telander estimated that using protective eyewear would prevent 90% of eye related sports injuries. Let’s do a better job of protecting our kids’ eyes. They are the future vision of our city, state, and nation.
1 https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/injuries-work
2 Harrison, A., & Telander, D.G. (2002). Eye Injuries in the youth athlete: a case-based approach.
Sports Medicine, 31(1), 33-40.
3 https://nei.nih.gov/sports
I have seen firsthand the eye damage and vision loss (mild and severe) and occasionally eyes (completely) lost from finger pokes and scrapes during basketball, as well as from fist fights, paintballs, BB guns, baseballs, softballs, fishing hooks, gas explosions, woodworking, utility knives, metal grinding wheels, lawn edgers, tree branches, cactus thorns, chemical burns, bungee cords and even sharpened pencils. Having had to comfort many kids and parents and spend many sleepless nights fixing these injuries I can agree with the famous Benjamin Franklin axiom that, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’. Use protective eyewear as often as necessary. For those who are interested in watching a video of me removing a fishhook from an eye, please see my youtube channel. Go to youtube.com. Type in ‘Marcos Reyes MD” and scroll until you see the title, ‘Corneal Fish Hook Removal’. After the sutures were removed and a long healing period this incredibly resilient 6 yo child saw 20/40 on the eye chart with a small glasses prescription. This qualifies him to drive in 10 years. Not every case ends this well but we are incredibly grateful for his recovery. Please feel free to view any of my videos on youtube. Be safe with your eyes!
Dr. Marcos Reyes is a board-certified ophthalmologist, fellowship-trained in glaucoma. He specializes in the surgical treatment of glaucoma and cataracts, as well as LASIK surgery. If you would like to book an appointment for a surgical consultation, call Zion Eye Institute to be seen at any one of our 4 locations in St. George, Santa Clara, Cedar City or Mesquite (435) 656-2020 or Toll-Free (877) 841-2020.