Blogs 0 comments
How to Take Care of Your Eyes This Diwali
by
Diwali is the festival of lights, but far too often, it’s also the festival of emergency room visits. Displays of fireworks can be beautiful, but if not done carefully, can cause serious injuries. Your eyes are one of the most vulnerable parts of your body, especially around fireworks. Eye injuries actually account for one of the highest number of hospital visits. Serious injuries to your eyes can result in partial or complete loss of vision, so it’s important you take care of them. Here are a few tips to help you keep your eyes safe this festive season.
Keep your distance
Firework displays are beautiful to look at- but from a distance. Standing too close to them, especially while lighting them up, can cause debris to enter your eyes. Hold sparklers at arm’s length too because the sparks can come into contact with your eyes and cause injuries. Exploding fireworks are especially dangerous for your eyes because they fling gunpowder and other fragments into the air. If you’re too close to it, they can damage the surface of your eyes. If you’re bursting rockets, always stand as far from them as possible (even when you’re lighting them) and duck for cover if they’re coming your way.
Wear protective eyewear
If you’re the one usually igniting the fireworks, make sure you protect your eyes properly. Wear clear goggles over your eyes to prevent anything from getting into them. While you do have to be close to the cracker to light it, try to keep your face as far from it as possible. And no matter how tempting, do not under any circumstance hold a cracker right next to your face and light it up. It might sound obvious, but this one of the biggest reasons why so many people injure their eyes during Diwali.
Remove your contacts
You might want to wear contact lenses during Diwali to look your best in the photographs, but when it’s time to light fireworks, they’ve got to go. When you’re standing near very high temperatures, your contact lenses can react with the heat. This can cause severe irritation on the surface of your eyes, making them burn and water. Wear your trusty glasses during Diwali if you don’t want to feel like there are fireworks in your eyes.
Stay away from smoke
Apart from the obvious risks fire poses, its after-effects can be just as dangerous. All the smoke that’s caused by fireworks isn’t just harmful for the environment, it’s also unsafe for your eyes. The smoke can irritate your eyes and the tiny bits of debris it contains can scratch the surface of your cornea. Cover your eyes whenever there’s a lot of smoke in the air, or wear clear goggles. To prevent used crackers from causing smoke, soak them in a bucket of water before disposing them.
Keep an eye on children
Diwali is not the best time to give your small children a taste of independence. You wouldn’t let kids be around fire unsupervised during any other time of the year, so why would you during Diwali? No matter how busy everyone is, make sure there’s a responsible adult around at all times when your kids are bursting fireworks. Do not let them ignite risky fireworks like rockets or bombs, stick to safer ones like sparklers. If they’re very small, always hold their hand while they hold sparklers to prevent them from moving it too close to their face and hurting their eyes.
What to do if you’re injured
If you do injure your eyes during Diwali, proper first-aid can reduce the severity of the wound. Always keep a bucket on hand when you’re bursting fireworks, so you can pour water over the injury for immediate relief. If you hurt your eyes, wash the area repeatedly with plain water. But first, wash your hands properly to make sure there’s no gunpowder or debris on it. If your eye is bleeding, cover the area with a clean cloth and go to an emergency room immediately. It’s very important that you never brush aside any eye injury, no matter how small it might seem to you. If a small injury goes untreated it can become much worse and cause serious, permanent damage. Even if you think it’s not a big deal, always visit a hospital if you have an injury.
With these tips you can enjoy a happy, safe Diwali. Visit Specsmakers for stylish frames that will help you see those beautiful fireworks even more clearly.