Take Care of Your Eyes

It's not so much that I run out of ideas for this space (although some might think so, seeing as how I really get off on some odd topics from time to time) but more like what things can I write about that are relevant, that are important to you.

For you see at the heart of my column is education.  I guess I'm a teacher at heart.

So I looked back at the list of the columns that I've written through the years and one topic that seems ignored is eye care.  Only one column in 30 years about eye protection.

And it's a pretty big problem.  Something we just don't think about often enough. 

Lots of pro basketball players are wearing protective eyewear these days.  It goes back to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who started wearing eye protection after too many scratches to the eye.  He sort of made it cool to do so.  Now lots of athletes do the same. 

It was really apparent last week when I was riding bicycles with a friend who didn't have any eye protection.  I started to say something but then figured that this was a responsible adult and he didn't need me preaching at him.

I should have said something.

Think about it....traveling at maybe 30 miles an hour and a bug hits you in the eye.  Ouch!

Or, worse yet, a piece of gravel gets flipped up out of the road and strikes you in the eye.  Serious damage can happen, not to mention that you will probably wreck.

Most of the time, people on personal watercraft don't think about it either.  Back when we owned a couple of those things, a near-injury was what it took to finally convince us to always wear eye protection. 

I guess the one I worry most about is the motorcycle rider.  Sixty miles-an-hour and no eye protection seems insane to me.

An insect propelled into your eye at sixty is going to do some damage.

What kind of damage?

Everything from mild irritation to blindness.  Corneal abrasions or lacerations are very painful and are probably the most common eye injury of any consequence.  If you suspect anything more than just a little irritation, see you ophthalmologist.  Lots can be done.

Even if the injury to the eye isn't substantial, if you're riding a two wheeled vehicle, something hitting you in the eye can easily cause you to wreck.

Industrial workers have long since adopted protective eyewear in the workplace.  In most jobs where there is the risk of a projectile  ending up in the eye, protective eyewear is required.  The military has discovered the necessity of protection.

But then I'll see one of my buddies on a bicycle or somebody on a motorcycle without proper eye protection and I just cringe.