Thanksgiving brings back aa plethora of memorable moments from your childhood that you can recreate today, especially when it comes to the food. Bountiful plates of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pie may cover your dining room table as you sit with friends and family members to share moments of gratitude.

Before thanks can be given, the food has to be prepared by someone. If you’re tasked with cooking this year, it’s important to do so while protecting your eyes in the process. A few kitchen safety tips for your eyes and face include:

In This Article...

1. Eye Care Cooking Tip 1: Being mindful of knives and sharp objects
2. Eye Care Cooking Tip 2: Learning to chop an onion correctly
3. Eye Care Cooking Tip 3: Avoiding bubbling sauces and boiling water

Eye Care Cooking Tip 1: Being Mindful of Knives and Sharp Objects

Between cutlery, utensils, and knives, the kitchen is filled with useful yet potentially dangerous tools for cooking. Proper usage involves keeping blades away from your body while cutting or chopping and being cognizant of anyone else in your vicinity. This is especially critical for children who may be in the kitchen helping, as eye damage from blades can lead to permanent vision loss.

Eye Care Cooking Tip 2: Learning to Chop an Onion Correctly

Onions are useful for bringing acidity and texture to stocks, casseroles, and other savory dishes. While you might be familiar with their flavor, you may also remember them for how they can make you cry while chopping. This phenomenon is due to enzymes being released as a gas from the onion’s cell wall during the cutting process that irritate the eyes and lead to tearing.

To keep this from happening, you can adjust your onion chopping by:

• Using a sharp knife for a smooth cut through the cell wall
• Rinsing the onion in cold water before cutting
• Leaving the root of the onion intact

Eye Care Cooking Tip 3: Avoiding Bubbling Sauces and Boiling Water

It is tempting to take in the aromas of your cooking, but there is a risk involved when it comes to liquid. Boiling water and sauces that are bubbling at the surface can splash into your eyes, leading to burns, corneal irritation, and potentially an infection depending on the contents.

If you find your liquid is bubbling too much, lower the temperature on your stove or remove it from the heat source. If smelling is important for you to gauge the dish’s success, keep your face away from the liquid and instead use your hand to waft the scent towards you.

Cooking for others can be a very rewarding process for you and your guests. And just like you have a passion for cooking, so too do CEENTA’s ophthalmologists for eye care. Our board-certified physicians are available for you for routine eye exams, cataract surgery, glaucoma management, or in case an accident happens in the kitchen.

To schedule your next eye appointment with a CEENTA eye doctor today, you may use our online scheduling platform or myCEENTAchart if you are an existing patient.

This blog is for informational purposes only. For specific medical questions, please consult your doctor. New patients can make an appointment with any of our eye doctors in North and South Carolina by calling 704-295-3000. Current patients can also make appointments through myCEENTAchart with physicians they have already seen.