Eye Safety for the 4th I have a doctor friend whose specialty is eye surgery. When he was chief resident at Johns Hopkins here in Baltimore, there was one night of the year when he was always on call and almost always needed: The Fourth of July. This is the high season for eye injury accidents, and tomorrow night is zero hour. The web site for Prevent Blindness America lists these fireworks statistics: Fireworks were responsible for about 10,800 emergency room visits in the U.S. in 2005 (the most recent year for which data is available) - Well over half of those injuries occurred on or around July 4
- About 1,600 firework injuries that occurred between June 18 and July 18 were eye injuries
- Firecrackers are the most common cause of fireworks-related eye injuries, followed by sparklers and rockets
- Bystanders suffer more fireworks-related injuries than fireworks operators do
If you or someone you're with on the Fourth experiences an eye injury, you can quickly find the best first steps to take on the Prevent Blindness America web site: preventblindness.org. Have a safe and happy Fourth of July. | 
