Site for Sore Eyes Berkeley: Vision Awareness That’ll Make Your Eyes Pop

Hello, and happy first week of October from Site for Sore Eyes Berkeley. So, it is “Halloween Month.” One familiar image that we see in everything from greeting cards to movies to video games is that of a dark, mysterious looking house. What’s inside? Did you hear that door creak? What’s around that corner? Yes…houses can take on a sort of scary atmosphere at this time of year.

You know what? Be afraid, and of not these homes…but your own.

Not only is October “Halloween Month,” but it is also “Home Eye Safety Month” AND “Eye Injury Prevention Month.” Is this a coincidence? Or was October deliberately chosen by vision health experts at Prevent Blindness America as the month to acknowledge home eye safety and injury prevention – as a way to scare people into awareness? Who knows? But the fact remains – and sorry to scare you, but – more eye injuries occur in and around one’s home.

Pick your favorite expression: “There’s no place like home,” “Home Sweet Home,” “Home is where the heart is,” or any other that comes to mind. And yes, we should feel safe in our homes.

This feeling of safety, however, lulls us into taking important issues (in this case, vision) for granted. Let’s say you are doing yard work. This is a chore that we tend not to think about; we just do it. Or, you may be into DIY home improvement projects. Lawn mowers and trimmers can send all kinds of debris ricocheting in any direction – even at you. Paints, staining solution can splatter and sawdust can scatter.

You get the picture? These at home activities may SEEM ordinary and have no risk involved – but they do.

O.K. – Now we go from “scare” to “aware.”

When you perform these tasks, do you wear protective eyewear? If so, great. If not…please pick up a pair. (Oh, according to a most reliable source, “Optometry Times,” protective eyewear should be approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and have should be stamped with a specified seal of approval [“Z-87” logo]).

Remember to keep a First Aid for Eye Emergencies set of instructions within reach, just in case you should hurt your eye.

We’ll stop there. For further information on eye safety within the home (as well as what to do in case your eyes should get hurt), please click here.

We know that this may have given you some serious stuff to think about. We don’t mean to scare you, but let’s be honest…wouldn’t you prefer just being a little bit frightened if it meant you learned something about any potential dangers to your vision – that can happen right where you live?

O.K. Now take a deep breath. Relax, and unwind with a DVD of your favorite horror movie. It’s Halloween Season, after all.

Thanks for reading…enjoy the weekend…and keep your sites on healthy vision.