Monday Health Report: Tips for Halloween safety

BATON ROUGE — Trick-or-Treating is just a few days away and parents are getting costumes ready for their children, whether it’s cute, scary or funny, experts say a costume should also be safe.

“I would recommend thinking about how your child is going to move in the costume if it has a lot of hanging parts, things that could be tripped over. Is there a mask? Is that something that could cover their eyes and also thinking about the weather,” Pediatrician Dr. Gena Robinson said. 

Another thing to think about is how dark it will be, especially if your little one’s costume is darker in color.  You could add reflective tape or have them carry a flashlight. As for older kids, you may want to think twice about letting them buy any of those Halloween-themed contact lenses, every year there are reports of eye injuries and infections.

“One thing that you always want to be careful with when you’re putting something in your eye is the risk of injuring your cornea, scratching your cornea, or causing irritation. So, you know, when we’re looking at things that we buy for a costume, there’s lots of different levels of quality and safety checking. When you’re looking at contacts with different color dye, there may be some issues with that. So, there are lots of, lots of factors to consider. I am not saying it’s completely unsafe, but I do think there should be some thought put into it before you start putting things in your eye,” Dr. Robinson said.

You may want to consider face paint instead of a mask for your child’s costume, then they don’t have to worry about the mask blocking their vision or becoming hot and uncomfortable.