Trivia: Non-Work-Related Eye Injuries

Last week we looked at work-related eye injuries. Regarding non-work-related eye injuries, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) provides the following details courtesy of their 2006 Eye Injury Snapshot Project Results, which is their third annual snapshot:

• 73% of the injuries reported were to males.

• 49% of the injuries sustained were to people between the ages of 18 to 45. Only 18% reported injuries were to people 12 years of age or younger, and 7% were to people 65 or older.

• 40% of reported eye injuries occurred in the home, and 47% happened between noon and 6:00 pm.

• Accidents were reported as the cause of 84% of the injuries, while assaults accounted for 12% of eye injuries.

• The agents causing the largest numbers of injuries were projectiles (20%), blunt objects (10%), fingers/fists/other body parts (12%), and sharp objects (9%).

• Drugs and/or alcohol were involved in only 5% of reported injuries.

• 49% of the injuries occurred to patients' right eyes only, and relatively few (6%) sustained injuries to both eyes, while 45% sustained injuries to the left eye.

A September 2006 news release by the AAO reported: "Nearly 2.5 million people suffer eye injuries each year in the United States, and nearly one million people have lost some degree of vision as a result. Most could have been prevented with protective eyewear."

And one more item from a July 2005 press release by the AAO: "Some of the most unusual injury-causing instruments included a cookie, a green peach, a pomegranate, a rooster beak, and a moose (the patient was involved in a car crash with a moose)."

Also see last week's article on work-related eye injuries and our earlier article on blindness.

And for some eye safety tips, check out:

• The American Academy of Ophthalmology's eye safety page

• Prevent Blindness America

• The Canadian Ophthalmological Society's eye safety page