How Sports Eye Injuries Affect Your Vision

Sports and recreational activities cause more than 40,000 eye injuries each year. During Sports Eye Safety Month, Prevent Blindness America wants to help protect you and your family from such eye injuries since they say 90% of sports-related eye injuries can be prevented.

Basketball and baseball cause the most eye injuries, followed by water sports and racquet sports. Most eye injuries happen in people less than 30 years old. Children have increased difficulty because of their underdeveloped depth perception.

There are three main types of injuries that can occur: corneal abrasion, blunt injuries and penetrating injuries. A corneal abrasion is a scrape on the outer surface of the eye. Blunt injuries occur when something causes a sudden compression of the eye. This may result in the bleeding of the eyelid or a black eye. When an object pierces the eye, the injury is considered a penetrating injury. These types of injuries are often severe and can permanently damage your vision.

Prompt first aid is the best way to improve the chance of preserving your vision. Your Indiana eye doctor urges you to seek emergency care immediately should any of these injuries occur to you!

Specially designed eye wear is essential to prevent sports-related injuries. During your next visit to see Dr. Tavel, make sure you ask about the right eye wear for your favorite sport!