July 1, 2009, ST. LOUIS – For most, the Fourth of July holiday means a celebration of our nation's independence, but for doctors it means approximately 11,000 trips to the emergency room.

According to Joseph Primrose, MD, an emergency room physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the number one problem is parents who let children handle fireworks.

"Proven studies show that when you let children play with fireworks by themselves the injury rate goes sky high," says Dr. Primrose. "Having said that, even when they're supervised, 50 percent of all the injuries in the United States are still injuries to children."

Dr. Primrose says he sees too many instances where parents let their kids play with fireworks, leading to horrible results.

"People think sparklers and snakes are fine for kids but if a child is less than nine years old they shouldn't be allowed to hold a sparkler," says Dr. Primrose. "Sparklers have enough temperature in them to melt gold, so it doesn't take long for them to start melting fingertips."

Eye safety is of concern as well. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), 2,000 annual injuries are eye related. Gil Grand, MD, ophthalmologist with the Barnes Reina Institute says many of those eye injuries result in permanent vision loss.

"These injuries are very severe and last their entire lives," says Dr. Grand.

Doctors say the most common injury they see originates from bottle rockets. Dr. Primrose says a bottle rocket's wingless design makes it impossible to direct. However, his big issue is their explosiveness.

"Bottle rockets actually contain gun powder, they're considered a class C explosive because they have under 60 milligrams and anything above that is classified as a bomb," says Dr. Primrose. "When you set them off, there's no predictability to what will happen."

Dr. Grand says while bottle rockets are the most dangerous firework, cherry bombs come a close second.

"People igniting them often put them beneath another object such as underneath a can, or in a glass jar, or under a flowerpot,” says Dr. Grand. “When the explosion takes place there's literally shrapnel that flies around, and can hit not only the person igniting the firework, such as a cherry bomb, but the shrapnel can hit many other innocent bystanders."

Dr. Primrose and Dr. Grand agree professional fireworks displays represent the only safe option. They recommend people:

-View displays from at least 500 feet (1/4 mile) away

-Respect safety barriers set up by the pyrotechnicians

-Let trained professionals light the fireworks

-Do not touch unexploded fireworks

However, if people are going to purchase their own fireworks, Dr. Grand advises adults supervise the lighting of fireworks with safety goggles on at all times.

"If fireworks were banned it probably wouldn't be the end of the world," says Dr. Primrose. "The bottom line is if I had my way I would only allow fireworks to be set off by professionals."