Eye Safety Information For Coaches and Schools
Can you believe that in the United States, more than 100,000 physician visits per year are due to eye injuries from sports?!* Basketball and baseball cause the most eye injuries, followed by water sports and racket sports. We need to work together to prevent blindness among the young athletes at your school. You can make a significant difference.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Ophthalmology strongly recommend protective eyewear for all participants in sports where there is risk of eye injury. Protective eyewear must be worn by any athlete who has only one functional eye or has had previous eye surgery or eye trauma. Functionally one-eyed athletes are those who have a best corrected visual acuity of worse than 20/40 in the poorer-seeing eye. Previous eye surgery or trauma weakens eye tissue, causing the eye to be more susceptible to injury. These athletes should be evaluated by an ophthalmologist before they participate in sports. Protective eyewear varies a lot in the way that they fit and their ability to protect the eye. Eyeglasses, sunglasses, and industrial safety goggles provide very poor protection during sports. Appropriate protective eyewear for sports should be chosen after consultation from an ophthalmologist, optometrist, optician, physician, or athletic trainer. Sports programs should help indigent athletes purchase protective eyewear.
There are 4 basic types of eyewear. However, only 2 types of eyewear are satisfactory for sports protective eyewear.
- Safety sports eyewear that conforms to the requirements of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard F803 for selected sports (racket sports, baseball fielders, basketball, women's lacrosse, and field hockey).
- Sports eyewear that is attached to a helmet or for sports in which ASTM standard F803 eyewear is inadequate. Those for which there are standard specifications include youth baseball batters and base runners (ASTM standard F910), paintball (ASTM standard 1776), skiing (ASTM standard 659), and ice hockey (ASTM standard F513). Other protectors with specific standards are available for football and men's lacrosse.
The 2 types of eyewear that are NOT satisfactory for eye-injury risk sports include:
- Fashionable spectacles, eyeglasses, and sunglasses
- Safety eyewear that conforms to the requirements of ANSI standard Z87.1,which is mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for industrial and educational safety eyewear. Protective eyewear should be made of polycarbonate because it is the most shatter-resistant clear lens material.
- Graphics of eye safety wear and how it should fit
- showing a baseball hit the eye of someone wearing the eye safety glasses
- showing a basketball hitting the eye of someone wearing the eye safety glasses
- The animated person would then demonstrate how to communicate with athletes, parents, and others about sports-related eye injuries and the importance of protective eyewear
All athletes and their parents should be aware of the risks associated with participation in sports and the availability of a variety of certified sports eye protectors. Although eye protectors cannot eliminate the risk of injury, appropriate eye protectors have been found to reduce the risk of significant eye injury by at least 90% when fitted properly. The parents of children with previous eye injuries should be informed that this protection is not optimal, and the choice of eye-safe sports should be discussed.
*Source: Napier et al. Eye injuries in athletics and recreation. Surv Ophthalmol. 1996 Nov-Dec; 41(3):229-44.