According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, over 40,000 sports-related injuries are reported each year. And the good new is, most of these are preventable up to a whooping 90%.
Sports that rank very high in causing such injuries routinely are baseball and basket ball at the number one position, followed by water sports and racquet sports such as tennis, squash and badminton.
The severity of injuries that are caused to the eye due to these reasons are very variable; from mild scrapes to severe trauma leading to complete blindness.
Types of Injury:
Eye trauma resulting from sports injuries can be of 3 major types: corneal abrasion, blunt injuries and penetrating injuries.
Corneal Abrasion: This is a scrape on the cornea which is the outer surface of the eye. The pain is moderate but not severe. The most common reason for such an injury is a scratch from a fingernail. Wearing goggles while playing can help one keep such injuries at bay.
Blunt Injuries: These injuries occur when blunt ends of any object such as a tennis ball or a racquet or even a fist or an elbow hit the eye causing sudden compression of the eye.
Mild Blunt injuries: These could result in a black eye or slight bleeding of eyelids or cornea. Neither are a threat to the eye. But in severe cases,(which one cannot easily distinguish from the mild) there might be substantial damage done to the eye. It is always advised to take nothing for granted and go through a thorough checkup from an ophthalmologist.
Severe Blunt injuries:They result in bleeding in the eyes in the area between the cornea and the iris(the colored part of the eye) resulting in trauma and a condition medically called hyphema.
In addition, the bones around the eye could also suffer from fracture; the optic nerves could also be damaged resulting in permanent visual loss. So, in the event of a severe blunt injury to the eye rush the person to an ophthalmologist.
Penetrating Injuries: These injuries occur when any foreign particle pierces the eye. Pieces of glass from a shattered pair of spectacles is one of the most common and best example of such an injury. They can often cause severe damage to vision and are true emergencies. They must be examined and evaluated by an ophthalmologist at the earliest possible.
First Aid Tips For Eye Injuries:
Providing first aid at the earliest can make all the difference and save ones vision. First step towards that is to place a protective cover over the eye to prevent further damage. Seek immediate medical attention.
Prevention is Better than Cure:
Golden rule — wear protective eye covering while indulging in any sport, however harmless it may seem. But having said that, glass-based eye wear used everyday does not come under protective eye wear.
Because, they might get shattered and cause other kind of injury to the eye. Use only specially designed accredited sports eye wear for the purpose.
For Racquet sports, standard eye guard made of polycarbonate (plastic) with closed lenses and sports frames. Clearly avoid open lenses.
For Collision sports, the entire head and face protection is very essential for such sports.
Use of helmets for football and face masks for hockey are good examples.Use of face masks in amateur ice hockey matches in Canada led to a 66% reduction in injuries of the eye.
The National Eye Trauma System (NETS) in association with the UIC Eye Centre are compiling information of injuries to eye common to sports.
