From basketball, baseball, boxing to water and racquet sports, an overview of sports can potentially cause more than 40,000 eye injuries. You would be pleased to know that more than 90 percent of these injuries can be prevented.

When it comes to sports eye injuries, or any injuries for that matter, we tend to overlook that some can potentially be of higher risk than others.  All the same, we want to do our best to protect our eyes and avoid anything from happening to them in the first place.

Some more common injuries or issues include:

• Eye swelling
  • This can potentially may occur when hit in eye, in sports activities. Some examples include a high-speed baseball hitting your face, getting punched hard in the face during a boxing match, or even getting hit by a high-speed tennis ball
  • What to do? Ice pack that swell as soon as possible!

• Eye bleeding / Subconjunctival Hemorrhages
  • Involves a blood vessel bursting that lies between the white of the eye and its clear covering. 
  • Very common and can happen even in a minor injury to the eye.
  • What to do? Do not panic. The likely chances are it will be painless, does not cause temporary or permanent vision loss. Be patient, this will clear within a few weeks. 

• Scratched Eye / Corneal Abrasion
  • Some common causes include your eye being poked, or rubbing your eye if there is a foreign body such as dust or sand present in your eye.
  • These can be very uncomfortable and can cause eye redness and severe sensitivity to the eye. 
  • These can also make your eye susceptible to infection from bacteria or a fungus and can be contagious.
  • What to do? It is better to seek consultation and treatment at the doctor’s clinic immediately. Based on how severe the situation is, your doctor would likely have to give you both eyedrops and antibiotics. Do not touch anything after rubbing your eye, and remember to keep washing your hands to avoid spreading to others. Lastly, wear sunglasses for the time being to prevent light from being too sensitive to your eye. It can be really uncomfortable.

• Traumatic Iritis
  • Inflammation of the coloured part of the eye (iris) that surrounds the pupil and occurs after an eye injury. 
  • Some simple instances include getting poked in the eye, or receiving a blow to the eye with a blunt object
  • What to do? This requires treatment, so seek a professional doctor’s advice to avoid the risk of permanent decreased vision.

• Skin Cancer
  • Yup the dreaded C. We don’t want to scare you with this, but cancer can happen at anytime to anyone. 
  • What to do? Well, whatever it is, let’s do our best to keep healthy and fit mentally and physically.

We might have listed on what to look out for in the common sports injuries. However and always when in doubt, go see a professional eye doctor to have a better consultation and conclusion.

SWANS has always made it our mission to consider different kinds of factors while designing our products. With carefully designed aesthetics, we want to provide you with the utmost comfort to work environments and weather conditions for leisure or sports professionals. We want to be part of your journey and compliment your sports activities. Over the years, we have brushed up on our technology to control light and rays, and providing comfortable eyewear for users. That’s not all! We have also deep-dived into different lens technologies for this, that includes UV blocking effects, polarized, photochromatic and ULTRA lenses, to name a few.  

With the help of the right pair of eyewear, and mindfulness of the environment and surrounding conditions, this can go a long way when it comes to protecting your eyes and avoiding injuries when you are doing sports. 

• Wear the right eye protection
• For those in sports such as hockey, baseball, and lacrosse, remember to wear your helmet

• Throw out old gear or gear that you already know might not be of use to you (don’t be a hoarder!)
• Know that some glasses just won’t cut it for such activities, so let go and invest in a pair of glasses which will be sure to protect your eyes. 

Here are SWANS’ top picks for different sports activities: