Kitchen Safety Tips for Your Eyes

Do you know what to do when hot grease or oil splashes into your eyes? Do you know the best way to stop your eyes from burning when you get the juices from a hot pepper in them? Kitchen accidents are relatively common, even though many of them are highly preventable. Check out this article for tips accident prevention, as well as tips on how to treat your eyes when accidents occur.

Hot Grease in the Eye:

It’s common for oil and grease to splatter while cooking, and if you aren’t careful, it can splatter right into your eyes. As with most situations, prevention is the best strategy. Wearing eye protection while cooking can prevent serious injury. However, if you aren’t willing to wear safety goggles while cooking bacon, you should at least use a grease shield or lid on the pan.

If hot grease splatters into your eye, you should immediately try to flush it out with water. Doing so should remove the grease. If there is an obvious injury or excessive pain or if you experience continuing symptoms, you should see a physician as soon as possible.

For minor grease splashes, you can apply artificial tears to alleviate some of the discomfort once you have washed the grease out with water. Just be careful to use moisturizing artificial tears and not anti-redness eye drops.

Spices and Peppers:

Peppers and other spicy ingredients can be delicious, but if handled carelessly, their oils can get into your eyes, leading to an unpleasant burning sensation. If you have been handling spicy ingredients, don’t touch your face until you have washed your hands thoroughly. You might also consider wearing gloves while cutting hot peppers to keep the spicy oils from getting on your hands in the first place.

If you get spicy oils in your eye, you should immediately try to flush them out with water. You can also wash your eyelids and the area around your eye with a little bit of baby shampoo. Just be careful to never put soap directly in your eye.

No Steak for Black Eyes:

In the movies, you will often see someone put a raw steak on their black eye. Do not follow this example. This practice is unsanitary and unsafe. The organisms on raw meat can cause serious infection in your eye. Instead, use an ice pack or ice cubes wrapped in a clean towel to reduce the swelling of the eye. If you experience any serious symptoms, you should consult a doctor.

Don’t Put Food in Your Eyes:

There is a bounty of urban myths about different food items helping with certain eye conditions or even changing the color of your eye. These food remedies are false and can even be dangerous. Honey will not change the color of your eye and tea will not cure pink eye. You should not put anything in your eye that was not designed to be used on eyes. If you use food products cosmetically on the skin around your eyes, be careful not to get it in your eyes.

Use Caution with All Things Sharp:

Ideally, you should wear eye protection when using sharp equipment in the kitchen. However, if you are not willing to do so, you should still use extreme caution while handling knives, scissors, and other sharp items. It is especially important to keep these items out of reach for young children since sharp objects are the third-most-common cause of eye injuries in kids.

Cleaning Products:

Cleaning products are one of the greatest dangers in the kitchen. You should always wear eye protection when handling chemicals, and cleaning chemicals are no exception.  Bleach, oven cleaners, and other cleaning chemicals can cause serious, blinding eye injuries.

If you get any cleaning chemicals in your eyes, immediately flush them out with plenty of water and seek medical attention. The longer the exposure, the worse the damage can be.