EYEGLASSES INJURIES IN KIDS
Could the eyeglasses your children are wearing be putting them at risk for eye injuries? Pediatric eye experts are calling attention to the problem of eye injuries, which peaks at this time of year, when kids are playing outside.
96 million people in the United States wear prescription eyeglasses. It is believed that the risk of eye injury depends on the activity and the type of frames and lenses. 90 percent of eye injuries are preventable, if the child is wearing protective eyewear. And the wrong eyewear can potentially put the child at risk for eye injury.
“I can either get hit in the face with the bat or the ball.” Even 9 year old John Simmons knows the risk of eye injury he faces when playing sports.
According to new research out of Columbus Children’s Research Institute, during a two-year period of time, more than 26,000 people were treated in U.S. emergency departments for eyeglasses-related injuries, and six percent of these eye injuries resulted in admission to the hospital.
Among children ages two to nine, more than half of the eye injuries occur because of falls. Among those ten to seventeen, 40% of them were due to sports injuries.
Another 10 percent of their eye injuries occurred due to car accidents, often, due to the airbag hitting the glasses.
Dr. Harry Engle, Chief of Opthalmology at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, says, “In youngsters that are under the age of 15, baseball is really one of the most common sports that causes significant eye injuries. In children from 15 to 25, basketball is a common cause of eye injury. In many sports like hockey and lacrosse there are mandated requirements for eyewear but there are many other sports that potentially put children at risk. For example, the martial arts can lead to serious eye problems.”
The findings of the study are important because by understanding the mechanism of eye injury likely to affect children, safer glasses can be designed.
“We recommend shatter-proof plastic frames and glasses, made from a substance usually known as polycarbonate. Polycarbonate lenses offer the best protection from eye injuries for children. That’s what they should be wearing, whether it’s in glasses or in goggles.”
However, Dr. Engle believes the eyeglass injury issue may be overblown, and the bigger problem is the lack of safety eyewear use. “There are perhaps 100,000 eye injuries that are significant and cause visual loss in the United States. About half of these eye injuries involve youngsters or young people under the age of 25. It’s the lack of wearing protective eyewear that is the problem,” says Dr. Engle.
And while John doesn’t need glasses and doesn’t want to wear protective eyewear, he knows he needs to wear them during sports. “I have to wear them, because they keep me safe from eye injuries,” says John.
Dr. Engel says that a child of John’s age who plays baseball regularly should be using eye protection while at bat. As follow-up to this study, the research team will begin looking further into the problem, such as identifying the sports and what exactly was happening when the eye injuries occurred.
Related Stories Links:
|