AS the holiday season gets into full swing, the American Academy of Ophthalmology are urging people to avoid giving children
toys that can cause eye injuries, following research published earlier this
year showing a rise in children's eye injuries from toy guns.
In 2014, emergency
departments across the US treated over 250,000 children under the age of 12 for
toy-related injuries.
Research
conducted by Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, published earlier this
year shows that the rate of children's eye injuries from
non-powder guns rose
by 511% between 2010-12, when 3,000 children received treatment for eye
injuries from paintball guns, airsoft guns, BB guns and pellet guns.
The most common eye injuries that result from playing with these
toys are corneal abrasions, or scratches on the surface of the eye, and
hyphema, where blood pools in the front of the eye.
The experts warn,
however, that other projectile or flying toys can also harm children's eyes.
These include slingshots, dart guns and even the increasingly popular drone,
which is often treated as a toy.