Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I must say it’s probably one of my favorite holidays of the year. Why? How often do you get to have such an extravagant dinner (well, in my case, sometimes even 2 or 3 … or maybe 4 – yeah I gain weight at the end of November)?

So I’ve been building up my appetite, excited for the big day, and I got to thinking about all the effort that goes into the kitchen to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. There are so many foods and courses involved, and it must be a mess in the kitchen getting it all together. And slowly my mind wandered towards one of my favorite subjects…the eye.

I remember once when I was younger, maybe high school age, I was frying a chicken breast on the stove. I must have turned the heat up a little too high and suddenly the oil started shooting out of the pan. A drop landed on my arm and it was pretty painful. I was barely even able to get to the handle of the pan to remove it from the heat because there was so much oil spraying. I can only imagine how painful and damaging it would have been if a drop of hot oil had gotten into my eye!

I decided to go back to my roots and conduct a little research, only to discover that according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), half of all eye injuries occur doing everyday chores, a major one being cooking. You could be starting off your morning with the regular routine of frying bacon and end up being one of the 2.5 million eye injuries that Americans suffer annually (this number is reported by the new Eye Injury Snapshot, a clinical survey of eye injuries across the United States).

So my thoughts went from yummy turkey to ‘catchy’ glasses. Aside from improving ones vision, not only can glasses be fun and stylish, but they can literally be ‘catchy’ by protecting the eyes and blocking hot oil shooting from a pan. Just recently, in July 2008, The American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Ocular Trauma announced a recommendation that every household should have at least one pair of ANSI-approved protective eyewear to be worn when doing project or activities that could create a risk for eye injuries, including cooking.

For those that are style sensitive, or perhaps in a situation cooking in public, ANSI-approved protective eyewear might not sound like the most exciting idea. Well, now you have one more excellent reason to wear your eyeglasses while cooking. And if you don’t have a prescription, now you have a great excuse to get that frame you love with plano lenses. The fact is that having a frame with lenses in front of your eyes will create a barrier that is better than nothing, and allow you to cook more safely while looking great.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, and be safe with cooking glasses!

- Alex Feldman

Safety Note: If an eye injury occurs, see an ophthalmologist or go to the emergency room immediately, even if the eye injury appears minor. Delaying medical attention can result in permanent vision loss or blindness.