Halloween Eye Safety Tips for Children and Teens: Keeping the Eye Doctor Away!
Halloween is a fun time & let’s keep Halloween safe and fun for your family!
We want you to avoid all eye injuries and remember for your children and teens:
Masks and Costumes should NOT block or obstruct your child’s vision
- Avoid masks or costumes that restrict vision, especially your child’s peripheral visual field. This is dangerous because your child cannot fully see his or her surroundings, especially going from house-to-house
- Instead, use make-up or face paint for costume decoration
Makeup should be hypo-allergenic for your child’s face
- Only use hypo-allergenic face paint
- Avoid painting the eyelids and/or eye lashes
- Avoid using glitter near the eyebrows, eyelids, or eyelashes
- This child’s make-up and face paint is applied appropriately and avoids her eyebrows, eyelids, and eyelashes
Avoid colored contact lenses for your child/teen’s costume.
- Colored contact lens changes your look in a dramatic way, and can be unsafe if they are the wrong size and shape for your eyes
- Avoid wearing color contact lens without first being fitted and prescribed contact lens by an ophthalmologist or an optometrist
- Over-the-counter color contact lens can cause infection, inflammation, and severe damage to the cornea
- Over-the-counter color contact lens can cause serious vision damage that becomes a serious long-term issue
- This is an example of color contact lens that look scary and will cause scary vision problems because they were over-the-counter color contact lens
Avoid costume props with sharp edges which can hurt someone in the eye
- Sharp objects, such as arrows or swords or spears, can cause damage to the eye by scratching or scarring the cornea
- Sharp objects can cause severe damage if used with force and causes irreversible vision damage
- This is an example of an unsafe costume prop of a Ninja warrior and please avoid this costume prop to prevent serious eye injuries
Post by Jennifer Galvin, MD. Dr. Galvin is a specialist in Pediatric Ophthalmology and Adult Strabismus. She joined Eye Physcians and Surgeons in this Fall. Dr. Galvin was the former director of Pediatric Ophthalmology at Yale New Haven Hospital. For more information about treatment, or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Galvin, contact us at any of our 4 offices in Milford, Orange, Branford, or Shelton. Dr. Galvin will also be seeing patients in our newest office in Westport which is scheduled to open in early 2019. We’re looking forward to hearing from you soon.
