HOUSTON, March 15 (UPI) -- Protective eyewear lenses could protect the eyes of the estimated 40,000 U.S. athletes each year who are injured while playing sports.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology urges athletes to wear appropriate, sport-specific protective eyewear properly fitted by an eye-care professional to prevent injuries.
"Athletes can select from various types of lightweight and sturdy protective eyewear," Dr. M. Bowes Hamill of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston said in a statement. "Eyewear properly fitted and worn does not hinder performance in any way, and can prevent most sports eye injuries."
Protective eyewear lenses made of polycarbonate plastic can withstand impact from a ball or other projectile traveling at 90 miles per hour, while contact lenses offer no protection. Regular glasses are inadequate to protect against any type of eye injury, according to Hamill.
Most U.S. sporting leagues don't require children to wear eye protection, but where protective eyewear is required, the occurrence of eye injuries is greatly reduced, according to the academy.
