Book a free consultation
Now Halloween is out the way, we look to the coming weekend to celebrate Guy Fawkes night, commonly known as bonfire or firework night. With shops stocked up full of firecrackers and fountains, it’s easy to forget about the precautions we need to take to protect our vision.
Fireworks are a spectacular show, and whilst larger public displays are advised as the safest place to enjoy them, many of us like to put on our own show with family and friends. However, with this comes greater risk of injury, as each year many people, including very young children are harmed.
How can fireworks damage our vision?
The eyes are one of the most injured areas of the body in firework accidents, with the extent of damage varying considerably. Here are some possible dangers your eyes are at risk to if a firework becomes out of control
Corneal abrasions – or in other words, scratching the surface of your eye. According to WebMD, researchers found that scratches on the cornea from projected explosive material were the most common injury in their small study- Traumatic cataract – this occurs as a result of blunt or penetrating ocular trauma, which causes clouding of the lens. This happens because the lens fibres in your eye have been disrupted
- Retinal detachment – The retina acts as the inner lining of the eye. When light enters the eye it lands on the retina, which converts the light to electrical impulses which are then carried to the brain by the optic nerve. A retinal detachment means that the retina becomes separated from the back of the eyeball. If it’s no longer attached, it cannot convert or transmit any signals, meaning a loss of vision, and sometimes permanent blindness.
What to do if your eye is injured by a firework on firework night?
If your eyes are injured because of a firework accident, it is important to follow these tips to ensure you are protecting your vision as much as possible:
- Do not rub or rinse your eyes
- Do not apply any pressure to your eyes
- Do not attempt to remove any object that may have become stuck in your eye
- Do not apply any creams to the affected area or take blood-thinning medication, such as ibuprofen
Precautions to take to prevent a firework injury to the eye
According to The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, you should follow these tips to keep your eyesight safe this firework night
- Keep fireworks in a closed box and use them one at a time
- Keep naked flames, cigarettes included well away from fireworks
- Once lit, you should never return to a firework
- When lighting a firework, keep it at arm’s length with a taper, standing well back and directing it well away from those watching the display
- Ensure fireworks are lit at least 18m away from houses, fences, trees and sheds, keeping an emergency bucket of water close in case of an accident
With that in mind, make sure your eyes are protected this Guy Fawkes night and enjoy the display!
Sources
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents,
Read more on eye health, laser eye surgery and vision, here
If you are interested in vision correction at Focus Clinic please call us on 0207 307 8250 and book a free consultation.
Book your FREE consultation
Warning Signs of Vision Loss in Children
It’s Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month (August) and the World Health Organisation has found that 19 million children in the world are visually impaired. Of this amount, 12 million are visually impaired due to refractive errors which can be easily diagnosed and corrected through a routine eye examination. Do you know how to spot the warning […]
Learn more
The reason why our ability to see at night goes back to evolution
The cavemen days were a long, long time ago, but human bodily behaviour in the 21st century is still proving to have qualities that originate back to this period. One of these aspects, is our night vision abilities. New research conducted by Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, studied the brains of 14 males across six different […]
Learn more
Creepy crawlies surprise us with their super vision
It’s not our fly-swatting skills, insects vision is much better than we thought! Ever wondered why the flies stuck in your home seem to be so good at avoiding your deadly swatter or rolled up newspaper? For years, scientists have not been able to answer this question, believing that insects vision was pretty blurry, leaving them […]
Learn more
How To View A Solar Eclipse Safely
The next solar eclipse happens this year on the 21st August but our view of the phenomenon won’t be as spectacular as the one the people in the US will enjoy; the moon will pass in front of the sun making it as dark as night-time for 2 minutes during the day. What is a […]
Learn more
Glaucoma: A Leading Cause of Blindness
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness throughout the world, especially in older people, with estimates of suspected cases at over 60 million worldwide. What is glaucoma? Glaucoma is an eye condition where the optic nerve, which connects your eye to your brain, becomes damaged, usually as a result of an increased pressure […]
Learn more
Baby vision: The development of sight from birth
Baby vision! Have you ever looked at a baby and wondered what they are seeing, as they look around their new world with curiosity? It turns out that babies ability to see is perhaps not as strong as you thought, with it taking up to two years for their vision to fully develop. Just like […]
Learn more
The Myopia Epidemic Across The World: Which countries suffer the most and least?
Over 80 million children are affected by the myopia epidemic and the economic cost is estimated at an annual $268 billion worldwide. What is myopia? Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is a refractive error in your eye. This means that the eye does not refract light properly to a single focus, which enabled you to […]
Learn more
Brussels Sprouts: The Seasonal Superfood that will Save your Sight
Your Christmas vegetables could be giving you more than you bargained for, as new research has found that the famously unpopular brussels sprouts could actually help save your sight. The tiny green vegetable has a bad reputation, but even if you’ve had a bad experience with them in the past, they’re worth giving another shot […]
Learn more
Could an iPad game cure lazy eye in children?
We all know that too much iPad use is leading to a number of health issues that could potentially affect our children’s vision – however it’s not all bad news, as research has found an iPad game that can cure lazy eye in children. Lazy eye, also known as Amblyopia, is a condition where the […]
Learn more
Refractive lens exchange cost
The typical Refractive Lens Exchange cost is £5400 for complete treatment to both eyes, using a standard monofocal lens. This includes your FREE initial consultation and all post surgery appointments and eye drops. If you are found suitable at your initial assessment, a second consultation with your treating surgeon will be arranged and costs £100.
Learn more
Beauty is pain, but is it worth risking your vision?
A 24 year old Canadian model has recently had an eye tattoo which has left her partially blind. And that’s not the only scar of scleral tattoo. Catt Gallinger herself has said that she’s made a ‘massive mistake’ as it affects her mental health. Have body modifications gone one step too far as people begin […]
Learn more
Pros and cons of laser eye surgery
Pros and cons of laser eye surgery Despite the procedure being more than 25 years old, laser eye surgery is still regarded as a relatively new operation. The pros and cons of laser eye surgery can help a prospective patient decide if vision correction is right for them. Benefits and risks of vision correction It […]
Learn more
What is age-related macular degeneration?
If you’ve been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, you’re not alone. In the UK, over 600,000 people are affected with the condition, and is one of the leading causes of severe vision loss in people over 60. You may not notice any change in your vision during the early stages, especially if you have AMD […]
Learn more
Did you know brussels sprouts can help save your sight this Christmas?
Did you know your Christmas vegetables could be giving you more than you bargained for? New research has found that the famously unpopular, Brussels Sprouts vegetables could actually help save your sight.
Learn more
Hay Fever: Preventing Itchy Eyes
Spring days are nigh, and for many of us, with the increasing pollen count, Hay Fever is looming. The oncoming bouts of itchy eyes and a runny nose fill sufferers with dread, so what would be better than to prepare for, and possibly eliminate, these symptoms before pollen terrorises them for foreseeable sunny days? It […]
Learn more
Contact lens problems and how to fix them
Serious problems with contact lenses are thankfully rare. However they can crop up when the recommended hygiene procedures aren’t adhered to, or when contact lenses are not ordered through a registered optician.
Learn more
Ocular Health: A Blind Spot in Parliament
At the end of March, the issue of eye health was discussed in parliament – for the first time in nearly seven years. Led by Wealden MP Nusrat Ghani, a parliamentary blind spot was addressed in a 90-minute debate in the House of Commons Chamber. Ms Ghani called for the government to develop and implement […]
Learn more
TV Shows of 2017: What takes the crown as most watched?
With blue Monday just a few days ago and many of us still in the throws of January blues, some of us may be looking back and reflecting on the year just gone. This time of year we see programmes crop up that look back at the highs and lows of 2017, and here at […]
Learn more
Healthy Vision Month: Can you spot the sun-seeker not wearing any sunglasses?
The summer months are slowly but surely on their way, so what better way to encourage sun-seekers to protect their vision than with a brainteaser with an eye-testing twist? With the sun fighting to get through the clouds, we’ve come up with this eye-boggling brain teaser that asks challengers to spot the sun-seeker that isn’t […]
Learn more
7 Things to Know About Styes
Did you know that there are two types of the common stye, and they’re caused by a natural bacteria on our skin that we coexist with every day? What is a stye? A stye is a small and painful inflammation that appears as a lump on the inside or outside of the eyelid. They can […]
Learn more
Bionic Lens…you’ve never seen anything like it
We all crave 20/20 vision and envy those that have it, but is it a thing of the past as technology finds something even better with the Bionic Lens? A Canadian company called Ocumetics Technology Corporation are in the stages of clinically testing their Bionic Lens. The device replaces the natural human lens with a […]
Learn more
What kind of laser eye surgery is right for you?
Until contact lenses were made popular in the 1950’s, the only way to correct vision problems was to wear glasses. Fast forward to 2016 and there is an abundance of different approaches to correct vision, from reshaping the cornea in laser eye surgery procedures such as LASIK and PRK, to refractive lens exchange surgery. So […]
Learn more
World Sight Day 2016
285 million people are blind or visually impaired – 80% of those don’t have to be. This day is dedicated to raising global awareness for blindness and visual impairment. Held every year, on the second Thursday of October, World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness and vision […]
Learn more
Do you take your glasses off before taking a selfie?
Recent Focus Clinic research reveals that over half of all glasses-wearing women refuse to pose for a ‘selfie’ until they’ve taken off their specs first. The recent research suggests there’s still a negative stigma attached to wearing spectacles. Despite the fact that around 69 percent of all Brits wear corrective eyewear, many appear to want to […]
Learn more
High cholesterol: Did you know it can damage your vision?
Most people are aware that high cholesterol causes health issues, but many aren’t aware of the impact high cholesterol can have on your vision.
Learn more
Gene therapy, the new cure for blindness?
Have we really found a cure for blindness? Earlier this month, a gene therapy that treats an inherited form of blindness was approved unanimously by the U.S. Food and Drug Administered (FDA) panel. If they get final approval in January, this will be a major breakthrough in gene therapy, as it will be the first […]
Learn more
Cold eyes? Here’s how to protect your eyes this winter
We are always reminded to protect our neck from the cold by wearing a scarf, or stop the heat leaving our head with a woolly hat, so why are we not taking the same type of precautions to protect us getting cold eyes this winter? Whilst the festivities have gotten into full swing today, the […]
Learn more
Common Habits That Can Damage Your Eyes
"Don't sit so close to the television...you'll ruin your eyes!" Pretty much all of us will have had this shouted at us as kids! And to be fair to our concerned parents, there used to be some truth in the saying!
Learn more
Driving into the sunset? Here’s how to do it safely…
Why are sunrises and sunsets so dangerous when we drive? There is nothing more beautiful than watching the sun rise or fall, but did you know it can be one of the most dangerous times for driving? With many of us commuting to and from work at these times, it is important to make sure […]
Learn more
From poison to potions: the toxins used in medicine that could save your life…
Worldwide, the prevalence of myopia has been rising dramatically, and it is estimated that 2.5 billion people will be affected by myopia by 2020, but a new study offers sufferers hope. News research reveals that atropine, a toxic substance derived from deadly nightshade, can be an effective and sustainable treatment for progressive high myopia in […]
Learn more
