Fast Facts
Americans love their sports and other indoor and outdoor activities. These are great opportunities for exercise and great memories for many, but for some, especially children those memories can be ruined by a PREVENTABLE eye injury.
- 600,000 eye injuries each year during sports and recreational activities.
- 42,000 of these are of a severity that requires emergency room attention.
- 13,500 which result in a permanent loss of sight.
- 72% of sports eye injuries occur in individuals younger than 25 years.
- 43% occur in individuals younger than 15 years. – and most of these accidents are preventable.
- 90% of sports-related eye injuries can be prevented with the use of proper eye protection.
- 84.6% of children do not utilize protective eyewear in situations that represent a risk of eye injury.
- 1 in 18 athletes will sustain an eye injury each season. The odds increase to 1 in 10 for basketball players.
- 1 in 8 victims of severe eye injury, and 1 in 20 victims of less-severe eye injury, initiate legal proceedings against parties assumed to be responsible.
Different sports carry different degrees of risk of eye injury. Sports that have a moderate-to-high risk of eye injury;
- Basketball, Baseball, Softball
- Tennis, Soccer, Volleyball, Racquetball
- Cricket, Lacrosse, Fencing, Boxing, Wrestling, Golf
Sources: Emedicinehealth.com, Sporteyeinjury.com, Apha.org, Preventblindness.org, Aao.org, Healthypeople.org
