HOW TO AVOID EYE INJURIES DURING HALLOWEEN

Avoid Eye Injuries During Halloween
Halloween – the one reckless day of the year, when anyone can be anybody. Whether you’re dressing for an adult party or helping the kids with their trick-or-treating costume, the temptation to ignore common sense and safety guidelines is pretty hard to resist.

And yet, with over 41 million, highly-excited trick-or-treaters running loose on the streets, incidents of Halloween accidents are incredibly high every year. Ranging from candy poisoning and glow-stick poisoning to prop wounds and pumpkin-carving injuries, there are plenty of spooky real-life dangers lurking around Halloween that can be easily managed by keeping some basic safety guidelines in mind.

Eyes are most vulnerable during this festival of perilous fun, and at King LASIK, we want to help keep your family’s vision safe with this list of Halloween do’s and don’ts:

Ways to Avoid Eye Injuries

1. If face paint and make-up is essential for the costume, use hypo-allergenic brands and make sure that any color additives to the face paint are FDA approved.

2. Test the Halloween makeup beforehand by applying a small amount on the arm, a couple of days in advance. If a rash, redness, swelling, or other signs of irritation develop, that’s a sign of a possible allergy.

3. Instead of the seasonal cheap makeup sold during Halloween, you might want to consider professional theatre makeup with high-quality ingredients, if your budget allows it.

Halloween Safety Make-up4. Check expiration dates on all make-up – even the stuff you buy this year may be leftovers from last year’s stock.

5. When applying make-up around the eye, make sure that you leave a “lid margin” so the chemicals in the pigments do not come in direct contact with the eyes.

6. Never rim your inside eyelids (waterline) with Halloween make-up colors. You have no idea what vision-harming chemicals are in them.

7. Don’t use lip-liners or blushers to create a red, bloodshot effect around the eyes, as you may be transferring bacteria from the mouth or an unwashed blusher wand right into the eye.

8. Remove make up with cold cream instead of soap. If make-up gets into the eye, rinse it with cool water.

9. Never underestimate the dangers of cosmetic lenses. They can lead to serious eye complications like bacterial infections, swelling, corneal scratches and ulceration and even loss of vision.

10. Do not buy cosmetic contacts without a prescription. It is illegal to sell decorative contact lenses without a valid prescription, but these lenses are sold freely on the internet, especially during Halloween. Make sure your teens have not purchased any without your permission.

11. If anybody is your family is going to wear cosmetic contacts, make sure they do not share them with others.

12. Do not allow your kids to wear masks, wigs and eye-patches that block clear vision when they go trick-or-treating. Road accidents increase exponentially during the night of Halloween.

13. Make sure the kids are not carrying sharp objects as props. Some Halloween costumes demand weapon-like accessories, but it is important to `neutralize’ them, so they don’t poke themselves in the eye or do other children an accidental injury.

14. If your kids are going trick-or-treating after sundown, stick some reflective tape on their costume in the front, back and sides, so they can be easily seen by motorists.