Eye injuries in children can range from minor incidents, like getting something in an eye, to the very serious, such as a projectile shot into an eye that could cause permanent loss of vision. Although the bone structure of your child's face and eye socket is capable of protecting the eyes in most cases, there are steps your child can take to decrease the risks of a potentially dangerous injury.
Types
Types of injuries that can affect your child's eyes include a foreign object lodged in the eye, an eyelid laceration, a scratch or injury to the cornea called corneal abrasion, bruising or a black eye, hyphema or blood in the front part of the eye, a fracture in one of the bones surrounding the eye and chemical burns.
Symptoms
Symptoms that can indicate your child has an eye injury include blood in the eyeball, pain, excessive tearing or blinking, bruising, swelling, the feeling of something lodged in the eye, decreased movement of the eye, double vision, unusual pupil size or shape, one eye sticking out more than the other or one eye not moving as well as the other. A younger child may simply close the affected eye shut.
Significance
Eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children in the U.S., according to the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Approximately 27 percent of all eye injuries in children aged 11 to 14 are related to sports activity.
Prevention
If your child works on a farm, he should use high-impact safety goggles when using tools or is around machines or chemicals, and wash his hands frequently so that if touches his eyes, he won't spread chemicals or infectious agents. Impact-resistant sports glasses can also be effective at preventing accidents from sports activities, including ball games, hunting, paintball and cycling. Make sure your child knows he should move slowly when carrying sharp objects, including scissors, pens, pointers and compasses with the sharp end pointing down, and never play with them. You should also keep children away from fireworks and the flying debris from lawnmowers. If you have small children who are prone to falling onto a sharp furniture edge, you can use inexpensive furniture corner protectors.
Solution
If your child gets a small foreign object in his eye, blinking or eye drops may be all that's needed to do the trick. If the object is actually lodged in the eye, don't attempt to remove it, and take your child to a doctor or emergency room right away. Likewise, a scratched cornea may be able to heal on its own, or with the assistance of pain relievers and surface antibiotics, although a severe cut requires immediate attention that may need surgery. Bruising and black eyes can be treated at home with cold compresses, but blood in the eye will require a trip to the emergency room or doctor, with eye drops and an eye patch often part of the treatment.
If your child's eye comes in contact with chemicals, you should flush it with running immediately right away and then head for a doctor. The South Dakota Optometric Society recommends that any eye injury causing prolonged pain, redness, watering or changes in vision should receive medical attention as soon as possible.
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