An eye surgeon in Georgia has revealed the most common and painful injuries that have caused patients to go blind.
Dr Lauren Yancey, an ophthalmologist at Georgia Vision Institute, took to TikTok this week to share a PSA on ‘how not to go blind.’
‘Not everyone wants to live longer, but certainly you want to be able to see it when you do,’ she said in the video, which has over 45,000 views.
Dr Yancey said her warnings come as spring hits the US and more Americans spend time outside.
The eye doctor’s, who has 163,000 followers first tip was not to sleep in contacts.
‘Change your contacts regularly because contact lens infections awful,’ she said.
Dr Lauren Yancey, an ophthalmologist at Georgia Vision Institute, took to TikTok this week to share a PSA on ‘how not to go blind’
Dr Yancey said to avoid sleeping in your contacts, as this can cut off oxygen to the cornea
About 45 million Americans wear contacts, and one-third of those have admitted to sleeping in them, the CDC estimates.
According to the FDA, wearing contacts for an extended period of time, such as during sleep, significantly reduces the amount of oxygen that reaches your cornea, the transparent part of the eye that allows light to enter.
Over time, this can lead to vision loss due to cells in the eye dying.
Dr Yancey mentioned that she had seen a patient that day who had gotten a contact stuck ‘right in the center of vision,’ and it was unclear if her vision would go back to normal. ‘We’re just going to have to see how it goes,’ she said.
She also advised caution when opening boxes with sharp tools like knives, screwdrivers, and box cutters. ‘Please do not pull towards you,’ she said. ‘Those are all things I’ve had to sew shut eyes from using to open a box.’
‘Stab down and pull back, don’t pull up towards you. It’s always going to go, if you’re right-handed, straight in that right eye.’
She advised caution when opening boxes with sharp tools like knives, screwdrivers, and box cutters. ‘Please do not pull towards you,’ she said. ‘Those are all things I’ve had to sew shut eyes from using to open a box’
‘If you’re kids, don’t ever approach someone mowing the lawn,’ Dr Yancey said, noting that grass clippings that fly up can cause eye injuries
Injuries like these could lead to severe vision loss or losing an eye entirely.
Additionally, Dr Yancey warned that as more people go outside in the spring weather, be careful around someone doing yard work due to grass clippings shooting out quickly and getting into the eyes.
‘If you’re the parent, don’t let your kids run out while you’re mowing a lawn or operating a weed whacker or operating a[rotary cutter],’ she said.
‘If you’re kids, don’t ever approach someone mowing the lawn.’
‘Don’t ever try to get your parent’s attention or friend’s attention or your neighbor’s attention, while they’re on the lawn mower or the bush hog or have a weed eater, anything like that, in their hands.’
‘Typically it’s not the person operating the lawn mower, it’s the person that is in the path of whatever is spraying out the sides.’
Finally, Dr Yancey advised against using Nerf Guns and other toys that shoot projectiles due to eye injuries.
In 2018, a nine-year-old boy in Wales lost one eye after a friend shot him with a Nerf gun pellet.
Six years prior, he had been rendered blind in that eye when he got hit by a toy arrow.
The pellets have also been shown to damage the retina, a layer of tissue at the back of the eyeball, which could lead to blindness or blurry vision.
However, Dr Yancey noted that it may take years before eye damage becomes clear.
This includes bleeding in the eye known as hyphema.
‘Typically that’s not going to blind you now. It’s just going to blind you later when you get traumatic glaucoma later in life from it,’ she said.
‘You’ll probably do fine as a kid with just a hyphema, and then down the road we’re going to have to deal with all the problems that cost you.’
In the comments, Dr Yancey also noted that she had a patient lose an eye to a golf ball.
