At Eye Care Center of Northern Colorado , we encourage our patients to maintain an active lifestyle, and participation in sports is a great way to do that. However, it is also extremely important that people of all ages protect their eyes while playing sports in order to minimize the chance of a sports-related eye injury. It is estimated that 90% of sports-related eye injuries can be prevented by wearing protective eyewear.
According to past statistics from the Coalition to Prevent Sports Eye Injuries, there have been as many as 600,000 eye injuries each year related to sports and recreation. The group considers the following sports to be high-to-moderate risk of eye injury (some may surprise you):
- Fishing
- Golf
- Basketball
- Baseball
- Softball
- Lacrosse
- Hockey
- Tennis
- Soccer
- Volleyball
- Water Polo
- Football
- Air Rifle
- BB Gun
- Paintball
- Boxing
- Martial Arts
- Cricket
- Squash
- Racquetball
- Fencing
- Badminton
It is estimated that 90% of sports-related eye injuries, such as blunt trauma, penetration injuries and more, can be prevented by wearing protective eyewear. If you wear prescription glasses to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, your regular glasses will not provide adequate protection. Polycarbonate lenses can provide the right protection during sports, which means that you will have to wear contact lenses in order to see well.
If you cannot wear contact lenses, or if you simply don’t like wearing them, you may be risking your eyesight by not having the ability to wear the right polycarbonate lenses. LASIK vision correction is one option to help improve your natural vision and give you the visual freedom to participate in sports more safely.
So, whether you play leisurely rounds of golf, fast-action basketball or any type of sport, protect your eyes. And if you are interested in learning more about LASIK vision correction, contact Eye Care Center of Northern Colorado at 888-702-1188 or eyecaresite.com to schedule a free LASIK Consultation.