Your donations will increase our resources and the number of preschoolers we vision screen throughout the state. Even fireworks like sparklers and bottle rockets that may seem harmless and are legal in some states cause hundreds of blinding injuries each year. In 1999, hospital emergency rooms treated about 8,500 people for fireworks-related injuries. About 45 percent of the victims were children under age 15. Sparklers are a major cause of eye injuries in young children.
Bottle rockets are the single greatest cause of eye injuries requiring hospitalization.
Data from the United States Eye Injury Registry shows that bystanders are more often injured by fireworks than users themselves.