Be Careful Out There: Fireworks Caused 1,300 Eye Injuries in One Month in 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 2011 — Fireworks were responsible for 8,600 injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms in 2010, according to a new report by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). And 6,300 of these occurred from June 18 to July 18, a period of special focus in the report.

Sparklers caused about 200 U.S. eye injuries during a one-month period in 2010.

Of these, about 1,300 (21 percent) were eye injuries. A thousand injuries occurred in the head, face and ears (including the eye area and eyelids, but not the eyeballs), accounting for 16 percent of the 6,300 total.

Which types of fireworks caused the eye injuries? They were firecrackers (100), bottle rockets (200), sparklers (200), fountains (100), Roman candles (100) and public displays (100), with 500 unspecified. Most of the eye injuries were burns, contusions, lacerations and foreign bodies in the eye.

Sadly, children under 15 suffered about 40 percent of the total estimated injuries. And for children under 5, sparklers caused 300 injuries.

Want your family’s eyes to be safe? Don’t use fireworks at home, and keep well away from them at public displays.