Everyone knows that wearing sports glasses can prevent eye injury. Sports eyewear can be made with your prescription, or without, like for over contact lenses. More and more eyewear wore by active people now have impact resistant lenses (polycarbonate or Trivex) to protect their eyes from the effects of shattering lens particles. Fortunately, it’s been years since actual glass material has been used in eyeglasses because, on impact, glass lenses have caused devastating eye injuries, permanent loss of vision, and loss of entire eyes.

A recent study shows a surprising find related to wearing glasses while playing sports. Although, as an industry, optometrists are doing a great job getting people into safer lenses, the wearers’ eyeglass frames are now the main cause of injury from eyewear.

When impact resistant lenses are placed into standard eyewear frames, it’s the frames that poke, cut, and bruise our eyes and skin around the eyes. Medium to high-impact energies exerted from collision with another player, ball, racquet, or bat were cited as the main cause of eye damage. The best way to protect the eye and the surrounding ocular structures is to couple impact resistant sports goggles with impact resistant lenses.

Play it safe! Ask your eye doctor or optician to help you find the best-fitting wrap sports eyewear for your lifestyle to protect your precious eyes.

SOURCE: Hoskin AK, Philip S, Dain SJ, Mackey DA. Spectacle-related eye injuries, spectacle-impact performance and eye protection. Clin Exp Optom. 2015;98(3):203-9.