Play sports? Wear protective eyewear

What do David Beckham, Lance Armstrong and Richard Hamilton all have in common besides being superstar athletes? They all keep their eyes from harm with protective eyewear.

The arrival of spring and longer days brings more participation in outdoor sports and with them the increased danger of eye injuries.

The California Optometric Association urges even casual athletes, especially children, to protect their sight by keeping street eyewear off the playing field and by wearing protective eyewear instead.

Some statistics to keep in mind:

•More than 42,000 sportsrelated eye injuries require emergency room attention.

•An estimated 13,500 cases result in permanent loss of sight.

•About 72 percent of sportsrelated eye injuries occur in people younger than 25 and 43 percent occur in children younger than 15.

Conventional frames and lenses do not meet the minimum safety requirements for impact resistance in contact intensive sports such as basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer, water polo and football. In the event of a collision, normal lenses can easily pop out and puncture or cut the eye, or a mangled frame could damage the ocular region.

A regular frame is not tested against impact; it has screws and other small pieces. Besides not offering much defense from a baseball, these pieces can scratch or penetrate the eye.

A quality pair of sport eyewear, equipped with polycarbonate lenses in a onepiece construction, can be a sight saver and prevent small collisions from becoming sightthreatening injuries. Today's protective eyewear comes in an array of poplar styles and colors that children and parents are happy to wear.

An optometrist can order protective eyewear with corrective prescription and/or UV protection or just UV protection so those who normally wear glasses and those who don't are both covered. To find a qualified local optometrist, visit www .eyehelp.org.

This article provided by California Optometric Association.