Protect Your Eyes for Fall Yard Work
As summer ends and fall hits its stride, working to prepare yards for a Michigan winter starts to ramp up as well. Leaves fall. Winds knock down some branches. You want to make sure everything is set and protected before the snow starts falling and makes yardwork impossible. Of course, working with your lawn mowers, leaf blowers, weed wackers, hedge trimmers and more can kick up dust and debris that can easily get in your eyes. That’s why investing in eye protection like safety glasses is so important.
Every year thousands of people suffer eye injuries from flying debris. All those powerful yard tools are great at cutting grass and leaves—but they’re also great at kicking up dirt, stones, dust, wood chips, and more. Your eyelids and eyelashes help keep some of the debris and dust out. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for something small to fly up and hit your eye when you least expect it!
Injuries from these flying objects run from small but painful scratches on the cornea to bits of dirt or wood actually getting stuck in your eye. As you can imagine, not only is this painful, it could impair your eyesight. The foreign objects have to be removed and your eye treated to prevent infections and repair damage.
This is why safety glasses, even for something as normal as yard work, are so important. The safety glasses provide a solid barrier to keep those flying stones and little bits of wood from striking your eye. They’re designed to cover more—including around the sides if you use a wrap-around style—than ordinary glasses to minimize the possibility of something slipping under or around them.
Most people take yard work for granted, but whether you realize it or not, it’s just as dangerous for your eyes as working with any other kind of powerful tool. Don’t risk a painful injury to your eyeball when the answer is as simple as wearing safety glasses! If you do feel like you have something in or irritating your eye, let us help you take care of it. Contact Sight Eye Clinic in Zeeland, MI, for an evaluation or more information about eye protection today. Just call (616) 772-2020 to reach us.