Letter Re: An Overlooked Preparedness Item: The Magnifying Hand Mirror

Hi SurvivalBloggers,
Have you have ever had a foreign object in your eye, and had a hassle finding and removing it,with or without help? I recommend that you get a big, powerful enlarging bathroom type mirror,the type you see on a swivel,usually with lights around it. These are about a foot square, and have a normal mirror on a swivel with an enlarged mirror on the reverse side. As a regular mirror gives you a half size image, examining your own eye for a tiny object can be difficult. With an enlarging mirror, its lots easier. I use a mirror like that, with a large hand held magnifying lens set directly on the mirror for even greater magnification. The mirror on a swivel and the magnifying lens in combination with a good light on your face, allows a really detailed examination, revealing details the unaided eye can't see and leaving the hands free to use tweezers or a swab,etc.. Don't forget some small hand held dental mirrors of good quality and good quality needle nose tweezers.

If you are way out in the boondocks and really need to examine your face, then this is a portable way to see yourself well. Having a good set of mirrors and various hand lenses on hand can serve a variety of functions such as fire starting, signaling, and so forth. These bathroom mirrors are inexpensive, and can be found often in a second hand store or thrift stores such as Goodwill for next to nothing. But the difference this item could make in first aid care could be life saving or at least eye saving. I now always have a smaller version of this setup when traveling and use it to clear sleep crud caked eyelids. Cheers, - Jose Noway