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Eye Protection

Eye Protection at Home

Summer is one of the busiest times of year for home improvements yet many Americans fail to take the proper precautions to protect their eyes from potential harm. 

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, nearly 1.5 million eye injuries in the United States occur annually in the home.  Despite the fact that 90 percent of these injuries could be prevented by using protective eyewear, a recent survey by the American Optometric Association showed that only 35 percent of people wear protective eyewear at home. 
 
To learn more about protecting your eyes at home, download The Vision Council's Eye Safety At-a-Glance: Protecting Your Vision at Home issue brief, which discusses the importance of protecting their eyes when working around the house or in the yard.  The brief has been created in conjunction with the Home Safety Council.

Sports Eye Protection

Each year, 42,000 sports-related eye injuries in the United States require a trip to the emergency room - that’s one serious eye injury every thirteen minutes! An eye injury is the leading cause of vision loss in one eye and 27 percent of these injuries occur while playing sports. The good news is 90 percent of these eye injuries are preventable.

A survey by The Vision Council revealed that nearly nine in 10 people believe children should regularly wear protective eyewear when playing sports, yet the National Eye Institute reports that less than 15 percent of children wear protection during “hazardous” sports activities. Of course, nothing can prevent all sports-related eye injuries. But simply making sports protective eyewear a part of athletic uniforms can significantly reduce the likelihood of potentially sight damaging injuries. Anyone participating in the following sports and activities should wear protective eyewear:

• baseball or softball
• racquetball
• tennis
• badminton
• soccer
• football
• ice hockey or street hockey
• basketball
• lacrosse
• archery
• fencing
• boxing
• karate
• any other activity that uses a ball or racket, involves rough contact with other players, or requires travel at high speed

To learn more about protecting your children's eyes during sports, download The Vision Council's Eye Safety At-a-Glance: Protecting Your Children's Vision in Sports issue brief.  The brief has been created in conjunction with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

*All content on this page has been approved by The Better Vision Institute – the medical advisory panel of The Vision Council.