Black Eyes- Make No Mis-Steak

Also known as a shiner, a black eye develops around the eye as a result of a blow to the eye or nose. The eye itself is usually not injured when you have a black eye, and even though most people relate a black eye to fighting, violence is the cause of a black eye only about fifteen percent of the time. Accidents are the major cause of a black eye, and although the condition is usually not a serious one, a black eye can be a symptom of a much worse problem, such as broken bones around the eye. Black eyes will clear up as the days go by, and an old wives tale about hastening this process lacks meat and substance.

There are about two and a half million traumatic eye injuries in the United States each year, with a black eye occurring in a large number of them. Before the advent of mandatory seat belt laws and dashboard airbags, automobile accidents accounted for their fair share of black eyes. Now a black eye usually comes about after some sort of trauma to the head area, from contact sports, work injuries, falls, and such, and the home is where most black eyes originate. A man is four times more likely to get a black eye than a woman, and the average age of a person with a black eye is thirty years old.