Major sports league seasons have been canceled, contact sports have been shut down, but sports will continue to be a part of our daily lives, even while in quarantine. Whether you go fishing, golf in your back yard, shoot some hoops with your kids or play ping pong in your basement, each sport comes with a relative sense of risk for your eye safety.
Close to 30,000 sports-related injuries are treated in U.S. emergency rooms every year. Different activities come with different level of risk for eye injuries – sports with flying objects have a tendency to cause more damage. How can you protect your eyes? Wear appropriate protective eyewear! The American Academy of Ophthalmology reports that up to 90% of serious eye injuries could all be prevented by wearing eye protection.
You may ask yourself – what is proper eye protection then? Can’t I just wear my glasses? The truth is, contact lenses and glasses do not prevent eye injuries and you should avoid using regular eyeglasses as a preventative measure. Even more so, in some cases they can shatter and make injuries worse. There’s a handy list of different types of eye gear here, illustrating what you should wear for different sports.
So what should you do when you injure your eye? Go to the emergency room immediately, even if the injury appears minor. Some ophthalmologists are keeping their practices open for emergency care – if you’re not comfortable going to emergency care facilities at this time, keep handy the number of any local eye doctors that have emergency hours available. Delaying medical attention can result in permanent vision loss or blindness.