Eye safety is a high priority when using the machinery in Mill Grove Woodshop said Woodchucks Safety Officer Chuck Bayser of N. 11.
In any area that machining is being done, Bayser said, Woodchucks members are required to use protective eyewear.
“It has to be eyewear that has side shields,” Bayser said. “It gives a better eye protection from the side and also the front.”
Bayser said that especially when working with wood, it’s important to use protective eyewear, as woodchips or wood slivers are harder to remove from the eye or eye area than metal slivers, which emergency room physicians can remove with magnets.
But not everyone in Sun City needs to worry about eye injuries related to woodworking. However, Dr. Mindy Nguyen of Huntley Eye Care said that eye protection and overall eye health should be a year-round consideration, and as July is National Eye Injury Prevention month, now is a good time to focus on a few key measures in keeping your eyes safe and healthy.
“It’s always [important] to have protective eyewear,” Dr. Nguyen said.
Topping her list for keeping eyes safe no matter the time of year are sunglasses to shield your eyes from harmful UV rays, which account for numerous forms of damage, including the formation of cataracts.
“I don’t think the general public realizes how important sunglasses are,” said Dr. Nguyen.
She advised that when selecting sunglasses to make sure they offer UV protection and aren’t just tinted.
Other forms of protective eyewear, Dr. Nguyen said, include glasses or goggles for sport-related activities. Biking, she said, is an activity many people don’t associate as being potentially hazardous to the eyes.
“When you’re biking, and you’re either on a trail or a road, [objects] could fly into your eye,” said Dr. Nguyen.
Consider also allergy season, Dr. Nguyen said, when thinking about preventing eye injuries, which can occur from bacteria or infection as much as from a foreign object entering the eye.
Dr. Nguyen said that washing your hands before touching or rubbing your eyes is the best way to prevent the spread of bacteria or infection, especially during allergy season, when your eyes are typically itchy.
For contact lens wearers, Dr. Nguyen said to practice regular lens care and cleaning and to always carry the appropriate travel-size solutions and cases for instances when a lens may fall out. Without these solutions or cases, Dr. Nguyen said, contact lens wearers will commonly put a lens in their mouth, which contains high levels of bacteria, to keep it from drying out.
Dr. Nguyen added that foods rich in beta carotene and lutein are a good source for maintaining eye health in general too.
