Sports Eye Safety Month

April 2021 is considered Sports Eye Safety Month so I thought it would be interesting to discuss this topic we don’t sometimes think about. I have been in sports my entire life, and have suffered multiple eye injuries. Fortunately, none were serious enough for me to lose any vision permanently.

It is estimated that about 100,000 sports-related eye injuries occur each year in the United States, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. About 13,500 result in permanent vision loss! Many of these injuries can be avoided with the proper eye protection.

Which sport would you guess has the most eye injuries? The correct answer is basketball! There are also a number of them in baseball and racquet sports(which I am quite familiar with!). I have been hit very hard in the eye with tennis balls, once when I was about 10 years old, and the other about 3 years ago. I was fortunate that they resulted only in redness and inflammation in the outer part of the eye, and a few “floaters” within the eye. No retinal tears or detachments occurred, at least not yet! These things can happen spontaneously years from now after an injury. I had specialists look at them to make sure, but only had to treat the external injury. I also had an eye injury in basketball in high school so I did wear protective goggles in basketball after that. I have also seen enough hockey eye(and teeth) injuries over the years, so I always played hockey with a “cage” face protector.

Regular glasses don’t provide enough protection, so proper sports goggles with polycarbonate lenses are appropriate. Also make sure it is of the proper standard, which is by the American Society of Testing and Materials. The eyewear should be labeled ASTM F803 approved. Sports eyewear has improved so much over the years and is no longer as restrictive visually and doesn’t fog up like the past materials.

Be careful and safe playing sports. We only have one set of eyes, so protect them! Until next time...