Hopefully you enjoyed your 4th of July vacation. While you celebrated in our great country’s independence, hopefully you’ve prevented potential eye injury and blindness by leaving fireworks to the professionals. Firework accidents cause serious eye injuries every year including burns, corneal abrasions, traumatic cataract, retinal detachment, optic nerve damage and rupture of the eyeball. According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 9,000 fireworks injuries happen each year on average in the United States with roughly 1 in 8 fireworks injuries harming the eyes. Many of the accidents involve children. If you have an eye injury, time is of the essence. Go to the emergency room and contact one of our ophthalmologist’s immediately.While 4th of July weekend may be over, the summer is just beginning and recent law changes have made a greater variety of fireworks legal in the state of Michigan, so if you do light fireworks be as safe as possible and if you do happen to catch an accident, please head to an emergency room right away.