Eye protection strongly recommended for athletes on all levels

Next time watching the game gets boring, pass the time by counting how many players are wearing eye protection.

If you’re at a pro basketball game or a hockey game, the number will be pretty high. If you’re watching an amateur event, or even many youth league games, you’ll be surprised at how scarce goggles, protective eyeglasses or face shields will be.

The frightening reality is that eye injuries can occur in just about any sport or recreational activity, whether it’s on the professional, amateur or weekend pickup level, to athletes old, young or in between. And although some sports are riskier to the eyes than others, there are few sports or recreational activities that wouldn’t be made safer if participants wore protective eyewear.

According to the National Eye Institute, eye injuries are the No. 1 cause of blindness among children in the United States. And about 90 percent of sports-related eye injuries could be prevented by wearing protective gear, the institute adds.

Among the sports that pose the greatest risks to the eye are those that involve the combination of a small ball, puck or other object moving at high speeds, such as ice hockey, street or field hockey, and racquetball. Dr. Weldon “Don” Havins, a Las Vegas ophthalmologist and an assistant dean at Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine, says that, without protective eyewear, the force of a speeding ball or puck can destroy the eye or the eye’s orbit, the cavity in the skull that contains the eye and its structures.

But larger, slower-moving sports objects can be hazardous, too. A softball, for example, “doesn’t move as fast as a racquetball, but you still get injuries,” Havins says, noting that one of the most common eye injuries in softball occurs when a player misjudges a pop fly and suffers what’s called a blowout orbital fracture.

Sports ranked as high-risk activities include baseball, basketball, boxing, hockey, paintball, racquetball, softball and squash, while sports associated with a moderate risk of eye injury include football, golf, badminton, soccer, tennis and fishing, according to the National Eye Institute.

An eye also can be damaged when it is struck by another player’s elbow or a hockey stick or another piece of equipment. Sports-related eye injuries include corneal abrasions, bleeding into the eye, retinal tears and retinal detachments, according to Havins.

Dr. Don Teig, director of the Institute for Sports Vision and founder of Sports Performance Centers of America, has treated several pro athletes’ eye injuries and calls himself a “strong proponent” of protective eyewear use at every game level.

“Even at the youth level,” Teig adds, where, in some leagues, young players aren’t required to use protective eyewear.

“Now, that being said, it’s come a long way,” says Teig, who was scheduled to be in Las Vegas last week for the International Vision Expo. “More and more teams at even the youth level are making it mandatory.”

In fact, even amateur and weekend recreational athletes would be wise to use protective eyewear, Teig says. On the upside, Teig suspects that as more pro athletes routinely use protective eyewear, more younger athletes and weekend adult athletes will emulate them and don eyewear.

For athletes at every level, it helps that protective eyewear is lighter, stronger and better-fitting today than it was even a decade ago. Today’s athlete can opt for goggles, face shields or protective glasses, depending upon their sport’s requirements and their own desires. But, Havins says, “fundamentally, they are going to protect that eye and orbital rim.”

Materials used in protective eyewear “have improved dramatically,” Teig says, with Space Age plastics such as light and highly impact-resistant polycarbonate lenses. They also are packed with features, such as silicone pads, that allow the eyewear to fit more comfortably on the face, even in the heat of competition. (The National Eye Institute offers recommendations of the best eyewear for specific sports at www.nei.nih.gov/sports/findingprotection.asp.)

Teig recommends that athletes consult their eye-care professionals to choose the right sports eyewear, and adds that most optometry and ophthalmology practices know the athlete’s needs and are proficient in matching eyewear to that need.

“The beauty of that is you have people with some expertise tell you what you should be wearing,” he says.

And, always, whether protective eyewear was worn or not, consult your doctor if you note any changes in your vision during or after a game or recreational outing.

For example, Havins says, “blurred vision is something that should not be ignored. Abnormal light sensitivity, flashes and floaters, or a curtain in the vision coming down from above or floating up from below are all urgent issues that need to be evaluated.

“If there is a question, get seen, because all of these conditions are much more easily treated early on.”

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.