Protect Your Vision, Play with Precision: Celebrating Sports Eye Safety Month

August 28, 2023

This month, both adults and children are gearing up for fall sports activities – a good time to think about protecting the eyes from injury as well as ensuring the athlete’s ability to see clearly and comfortably. Fortunately, there are protective goggles for most sports, and for glasses or contact lens wearers, prescription goggles do double duty for eye protection and visual accuracy.

For athletes who wear them, eyeglasses may slip or the lenses fog up during play. Glasses may shatter if you fall or get hit by a ball. Wearing contact lenses while swimming or diving can trap waterborne bacteria between the lenses and your eyes, increasing your risk for eye infections.

Prescription goggles are an effective eye-safety option because they provide:

  • Shatterproof Design. Made of tough polycarbonate, goggles won’t shatter or break the way glasses can.
  • Stability from a band that wraps around the head to keep them from slipping or falling off.
  • Comfort provided by padding and soft, flexible straps.
  • Wraparound Design to ensure that your peripheral vision is just as sharp as your central vision.
  • Glare Reduction. Glare from surfaces or sun is a common problem, whether you’re playing softball or hitting the ski slopes. Tinted goggles that also provide protection from ultraviolet (UV) light will help reduce glare and may also offer protection from skin cancer and cataracts. If you choose, you can get photochromic lenses that lighten and darken based on the amount of available light.
  • Anti-Fog Coating. Some types of prescription goggles contain an anti-fog coating to ensure that your vision remains clear despite changes in temperature or humidity.
  • Wind and Debris Protection. Even the tiniest speck of dirt in your eye can hurt and spoil your play. Goggles protect your eyes from airborne debris and the drying effects of the wind.
  • Special Tints. Sport-specific tinted goggles can help you perform better. For example, wearing yellow-tinted goggles when you play tennis will make it easier to see the ball when it’s in the air.

Prescription goggles for sports are a good idea if you normally wear contacts or glasses, regardless of your age. Talk to your Atlantic Eye doctor about prescription goggles before your sport starts up or any time you want to provide better eye protection for yourself or a loved one. (For more about sports eye safety go to https://atlanticeye.com/2021/04/make-april-2021-your-month-for-sports-eye-safety/)

And just by the way, today’s updated goggles are lightweight and attractive, easy to wear, and look good!