With Canada Day celebrations come one of the big highlights - the fireworks.

Unfortunately every year, eye injuries occur due to mishandled fireworks, debris from fireworks, or fireworks detonating unexpectedly.

Dr. Mona Dagher, President of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society, has more.

“In Canada, almost twenty percent of injuries caused by fireworks involve the eyes and some of those actually result in severe damage to the eyes, sometimes leading to a permanent loss of vision. Nearly a third of all firework related injuries occur around Canada Day.”

Dagher added that anyone handling fireworks should be wearing eye protection and spectators should be at least 500 feet away from the launch site.

Hear more about summer eye safety, including how to protect your eyes from UV rays. Catch Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.