© Provided by Wausau-Rhinelander WSAW-TV File footage of the D.C. Everest Girls Soccer team.
WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – Spring sports season is upon us and new research shows that 30,000 athletes in the U.S. suffer eye-related injuries while playing sports each year. Doctors report 90% of those patients could’ve avoided the injury by wearing eye protection.
The most common injuries doctors treat are corneal abrasions or scratches to the eye, bruising around the eye, retinal detachments and internal bleeding. That’s why doctors say the simple way to prevent those injuries is with eye protection.
However, some athletes say protection will fog up and impair them from seeing during the game.
“Eye protection can be not the most fashionable thing to… wear. And some of the athletes might choose not to wear it just because of how it looks or what their teammates might think or something along the lines of that,” athletic trainer for Aspirus Health, Alissa Pikka said.
She said there are five things athletes can do to protect themselves. The first is to check and follow sport-specific requirements and standards regarding eye protection. Second, she said to consider replacing eyewear once it is yellowed or damaged to ensure the best protection. Third, for basketball, racquet sports, soccer and field hockey, she said to wear protective eyewear with polycarbonate lenses. Fourth, for snow or water sports, she said to consider eyewear with UV protection to avoid sunburn or glare. Lastly, she said athletes who wear contacts or glasses should still wear eye protection as contacts and regular eyeglasses are not replacements for protective sports eyewear.
“Eye protection is a simple way for athletes to protect themselves. It’s something easy that the athletes don’t always think about, they think about, you know, protecting their arms or their legs or, you know, bigger muscle groups or something like that, where eye protection can kind of get put to the side,” she explained.
She said to seek care immediately if you experience an eye injury, even if it seems minor because sometimes noticeable symptoms develop later.
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