Parents always need to be on the alert when it comes to the safety of their children, especially those of a very young age. A new study found that toddlers aged one to two years old have the highest rate of eye injury of chemicals across the United States based on emergency room visits.
"These are terrible injuries; they occur most frequently in the smallest of children and they are entirely preventable," said research leader R. Sterling Haring, DO, MPH, as per a report from Science Daily. Haring added that eye injuries in young children are mainly due to access to chemicals which are improperly stored in the home like the ones used for cleaning.
#3Novices : Common household cleaners may lead to critical eye injuries in kids August 06, 2016 at 05:48PM https://t.co/cQGgP4jvha #News #…
— 3noviceshyderabad (@3NovicesHyd) August 6, 2016
The report said that eye burns from chemicals are among the worst kind of eye injuries as the chemicals still burn into the eye after coming into contact with it. Irreparable damage to the eye can happen as a result of eye burns from chemicals.
Indian Express reported that the study had data from more than 900 hospitals across the country for a four-year period which yielded around 30 million yearly emergency room visits. For people belonging to low-income families, eye injuries from chemicals occurred mostly at home. Less young people were said to be injured as they reached the age when they were old enough to know the dangers from chemicals.
The researchers found out from these data that in children, those aged one and two had the greatest frequency of eye burns from chemicals, Health Day reported. Another significant finding among one and two year olds was that they were reportedly 1.5 times more likely to have their eye burned from chemicals compared to a 24-year-old person.
The report said that there were more alkaline eye injuries than acid injuries and that alkaline can be found in household cleaners like ammonia, chlorine bleach drain cleaners and oven cleaners. Haring was quoted as saying that it was a "terrible" idea to keep household chemicals under the sink even if it is secured with a lock to keep children from accessing them.
