With alcohol-based hand sanitizer available virtually everywhere during the pandemic, there has been a precipitous rise in eye injuries from the disinfectants among children as well as surgeries required to address those injuries, according to a report published on Thursday in JAMA Ophthalmology. In a separate paper in the same issue, researchers point out that parents need to be aware of the risks, particularly in public places, where hand sanitizer dispensers are installed at a waist-level height of an adult but at eye level or above for young children. The authors of one of the papers advise handwashing at home with soap and water instead of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, teaching children proper use of hand sanitizers, having separate dispensers at shops and malls for children, preferably below face level, and placing caution signs next to sanitizer dispensers. —Reuters Staff Source
