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Reduce the Risk for Sports Eye Injuries

By The Signal, 10/08/19, 9:30AM PDT

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Basketball has the highest rates of youth sports eye injuries. Wearing protective lenses can help prevent many eye injuries.

Encouraging children to play sports can be good for their minds and bodies. However, players risk injury anytime they engage in sports play, and the eyes are among athletes’ most vulnerable body parts.

The American Family Physician says sports cause more than 40,000 eye injuries each year. More surprisingly is that 90% or more of those injuries can be prevented.

A 2018 study in the journal Pediatrics found that basketball caused almost 16% of eye injuries in children between 1990 and 2012. The next activities to cause the highest amounts of eye injuries included baseball or softball, and non-powder gun use, such as airsoft rifles and pellet guns.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology advises that the single-best way to protect the eyes during activities is through the use of protective eyewear. Regular glasses alone are not effective. The AAO indicates that protective eyewear should feature a type of lens made of a shatterproof plastic known as polycarbonate lenses.