SAN FRANCISCO – In recognition of April’s designation as Sports Eye Safety Month, the American Academy of Ophthalmology urges all athletes–and especially young athletes–to wear appropriate sport-specific protective eyewear as recommended and properly fitted by an Eye M.D. or other eye care professional. Approximately 40,000 sports-related eye injuries occur in the United States each year. More than one-third of the victims are children.

“Athletes need to choose protective eyewear because eye injuries can be devastating,” said Monica L. Monica, MD, PhD, MHA, an ophthalmologist and Member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “Eye injuries are one of the leading causes of visual impairment in children. Children can incur injuries ranging from abrasions of the cornea and bruises of the lids to internal eye injuries such as retinal detachments and internal bleeding. Unfortunately, some of these young athletes end up with permanent vision loss and blindness.”

While many sports put participants at high risk for eye injury, eye protection is available for many of these same activities. These include: basketball, baseball, hockey, football, lacrosse, fencing, paintball, water polo, racquetball, soccer and downhill skiing.  Athletes today can choose from various types of lightweight and sturdy protective eyewear that look and fit better than in the past. Eyewear properly fitted and worn does not hinder performance in any way, and can prevent most sports eye injuries.

Protective eyewear lenses should be made of polycarbonate. Polycarbonate can withstand impact from a ball or other projectile traveling at 90 miles per hour. Contact lenses offer no protection, and street wear glasses are inadequate to protect against any type of eye injury.

Because many children’s sports leagues, schools and teams don’t require children to wear eye protection, parents must insist that children wear eye protection every time they play and set a good example by wearing eye protection themselves when playing sports. In addition, parents can get involved to help pass local ordinances requiring children to wear protective eyewear when engaging in sports.