Eye Injuries Occur at Home, Often While Working in the Yard, Researchers Find

About 20 percent of all eye injuries suffered at home in the United States are caused by the use of power tools during home improvement projects, a new study has found.

According to annual research conducted by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Ocular Trauma, more than 1.5 million eye injuries occur each year at home, most of the time while the victim is working in the yard or doing other household chores.

The use of bleach, solvents, and other chemicals is the most common cause of eye injuries at home, followed by being struck by flying debris such as rocks kicked up by lawnmowers or trimmers. Besides the person actually doing the work, children and other bystanders can also be hit in the eye and injured by flying debris, the study cautioned.

Blindness and other types of eye injuries often result from the proper use of defectively dangerous gardening tools and equipment, which is not equipped with proper safety features such as automatic turn offs.

Most Eye Injuries are Preventable

Of the more than 2.5 million eye injuries suffered both at home and outside the home each year, an estimated 90 percent could have been prevented by using protective eyewear, researchers said.

“Serious eye injuries can be avoided by simply using the proper eye protection,” Hugh R. Parry, president of Prevent Blindness America, said in a statement.

Proper eyewear should have the “Z-87” logo stamped on the frames and can be found for purchase at home-improvement stores, hardware stores, and retailers nationwide.

Lawnmowers, yard trimmers, garden tractors, and other yard equipment that is dangerously or defectively designed are blamed for hundreds of consumer deaths and injuries each year. In some cases, manufacturers know of the risks to users but do not do what is necessary to make the products safer and avoid the injuries in order to cut costs and increase profits.

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