As we enter the final week of Children’s Eye Healthy and Safety Month we want to leave you with some helpful tips regarding you child’s eye safety while playing sports. It’s important to remember eye safety during physical activity because eye injuries are the leading source of blindness in school-aged children, with the majority of them being sports related. Of all the possible eye injuries children can obtain, 90 percent can be avoided with the proper eye protection. Keep these tips in mind regarding your child and proper eye safety while playing sports:
- If your child already wears prescription glasses, ask your eye doctor to fit your child for prescription eye guards.
- Ask your eye doctor what sports your child can safely participate if he or she is a monocular athlete. Monocular athletes should always wear sports eye guards.
- Buy eye guards from any sports specialty or optical stores.
- Have your child try on different types of eye guards with anti-fog coating and ventilation to determine which is most comfortable.
- Check the eye protector packaging to see if it has been tested for sports use.
- Make sure sports eye guards are padded or cushioned along the brow and bridge of the nose. Padding will prevent the eye guards from cutting your child’s skin.
- Always have your child try on the eye protector to determine if it’s the right size and fit.
Tips adapted from Prevent Blindness America.
Image from Prevent Blindness Georgia.