Pediatric Eye Injuries: Advice to Parents

Eye injuries are common accidents in children, so parents need to know what to do, and quickly. It may seem obvious but the first tip is to check that your children do not play with sharp objects or dangerous substances.

Eye injuries, in fact, are often caused in children by these objects and substances. Oftentimes, trauma is caused by the simple frenzy of the game or by an accidental fall.

Another useful tip is to cover all the corners of the furniture with corner protectors in the child’s room.

Pediatric eye injuries can be bruises or perforating traumas but any type of trauma should not be underestimated because it could create more or less serious problems for the child’s vision.

In the event of a bruise, such as after a blow, a foreign body such as loam and sand or a simple fall, the eye could swell and hurt very much. As a first aid, therefore, parents should immediately apply ice to control the swelling of the eye and administer a possible pain reliever.

Even if the situation seems to resolve itself easily, it would be advisable to consult the pediatrician. If the damage, however, appears immediately more serious, for example if the child is unable to open his eye, if he does not see well, or if he has dizziness or bleeding, it would be advisable to go to the emergency room.

For piercing traumas, which are always considered serious, the child must be immediately brought to the hospital.

If the eye has come into contact with irritating chemicals, however, you should immediately rinse the eye under running water for a few minutes and then go to the emergency room. If possible, bring the product (container) that caused the problem. Even a photograph is useful to provide as much information as possible to the doctors who need to intervene.

It is absolutely not recommended to apply eye drops or ointments or to force the child to open his eye.

In conclusion, therefore, it is good to have preventive rather than decisive behavior based on careful surveillance of children.

This post is also available in: Italian

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