Protective eyewear can ward off injuries in young athletes

July 27, 2012 By Ekaterina Pesheva in Pediatrics

Doctors warn of spike in sports-related eye injuries with start of training season.

With the summer drawing to an end and the around the corner, pediatric eye specialists at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and The Wilmer Eye Institute are sounding the alarm on a preventable yet all too common occurrence — -related .

August is Children’s Eye Health and Safety Month, and pediatricians should counsel parents, coaches and young athletes about the dangers of eye injuries and urge them to consider protective goggles, especially for high-risk sports such as fencing, boxing, soccer, basketball, softball, lacrosse and baseball.

“As training season begins, and as children resume practice, emergency rooms across the country may see an influx of eye injuries from sports — yet most if these injuries are highly preventable by wearing protective goggles,” says pediatric ophthalmologist Michael X. Repka, M.D., of the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute and deputy director of ophthalmology at Hopkins Children’s Center.

Worn consistently, safety eyewear can prevent nine out of 10 injuries, the experts say. Mild injuries, such as lid bruises and corneal abrasions, usually cause no lasting damage, but serious eye traumas can have lasting effects. For example, high-impact injuries can cause internal bleeding or fracture the bone around the eye, which may require surgery.

“Eye injuries at an early age can have serious and life-long consequences for the young athlete that go beyond missing a game or two and can sometimes lead to permanent eye damage and loss of vision,” Repka says.

Eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children in the United States with most eye injuries in school-age children occurring during sports according to the National Institutes of Health. Some 100,000 sports eye injuries occur each year, with children making up nearly half of the cases, research shows. In addition, children account for a third of all eye traumas requiring hospitalization according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Protective eyewear includes safety glasses, goggles, shields and eye guards. Regular prescription glasses do not offer adequate protection for most sports, the experts say, and all sports eyewear should be sports-specific. For children who wear prescription glasses, safety goggles can be custom-made to match the prescription, Repka says.

The Hopkins experts recommend the following steps to help minimize the risk for serious eye damage:

• Ensure that your child wears protective eyewear during practice and games
• Consult an ophthalmologist or an optometrist to determine which types of protective glasses are best suited for a particular sport
• Make sure your child has regular eye screenings and exams, if she or he has a problem.

Seek immediate medical attention if a child has any of the following:

• Cuts or punctures to the eye
• Redness, itching or irritation of the eyes
• Discharge or excessive tearing in one or both eyes
• Swelling of the eye or the area around the eye
• Deep eye pain, pain behind the eyes and/or unexplained headaches
• Floaters or flashes in the field of vision or partial loss of vision, which can be signs of possible retinal detachment

A note of caution: Never rub the affected eye and do not try to remove any splinters or objects stuck in the because doing so may cause more damage. Go to the emergency room instead, the specialists advise.

Provided by Johns Hopkins University search and more info website

not rated yet  

Rank not rated yet
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Rate of bicycle-related fatalities significantly lower in states with helmet laws

Existing research shows that bicyclists who wear helmets have an 88 percent lower risk of brain injury, but researchers at Boston Children's Hospital found that simply having bicycle helmet laws in place showed a 20 percent ...

Pediatrics created May 23, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

More kids getting donor organs, but gaps persist, study finds

(HealthDay)—Over the last decade, the number of American children who die each year awaiting an organ donation dropped by more than half, new research reveals. And increasing numbers of children are receiving ...

Pediatrics created May 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Phthalates: Study links chemicals widely found in plastics, processed food to elevated blood pressure in children, teens

Plastic additives known as phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are odorless, colorless and just about everywhere: They turn up in flooring, plastic cups, beach balls, plastic wrap, intravenous tubing and—according to the ...

Pediatrics created May 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Less sleep associated with increased risk of crashes for young drivers

A study by Alexandra L. C. Martiniuk, M.Sc, Ph.D., of The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, Australia, and colleagues suggests less sleep per night is associated with a significant increase in the risk for motor ...

Pediatrics created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Whole-cell vaccine was more effective than acellular vaccine during CA pertussis outbreak

Whole-cell pertussis vaccines were more effective at protecting against pertussis than acellular pertussis vaccines during a large recent outbreak, according to a new Kaiser Permanente study published in Pediatrics.

Pediatrics created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Engineered cytomegalovirus protects monkeys from HIV equivalent

(Medical Xpress)—A new study by researchers in the US has shown that an ancient virus can be modified to help in the fight against the simian immunodeficiency virus SIV, which is the equivalent in monkeys ...

Researchers identify first drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder

Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)—a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissue—may provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers ...

Hormone levels may provide key to understanding psychological disorders in women

Women at a particular stage in their monthly menstrual cycle may be more vulnerable to some of the psychological side-effects associated with stressful experiences, according to a study from UCL.

Motion quotient: IQ predicted by ability to filter motion (w/ video)

A brief visual task can predict IQ, according to a new study. This surprisingly simple exercise measures the brain's unconscious ability to filter out visual movement. The study shows that individuals whose ...

Controlling mood through the motions of mitochondria

(Medical Xpress)—Regulating the distribution of power in neurons is done by a system that makes the national electric grid look simple by comparison. Each neuron has several thousand mitochondria confined ...

Going live: Immune cell activation in multiple sclerosis

Biological processes are generally based on events at the molecular and cellular level. To understand what happens in the course of infections, diseases or normal bodily functions, scientists would need to ...