When you consider everyday hazards, many people don’t think of eye hazards. However, eye injuries do happen frequently, especially during sports. September is Sports Eye Safety Month. According to Personalized Cause, eye injuries in sports are the leading cause of eye-related visits to emergency rooms. Nevada Eye Physicians offers patients eye safety tips to help maintain their eye health. Our vision professionals in Las Vegas, Mesquite, Henderson, Pahrump, and Boulder City, NV provide protective eyewear and sports eyewear options.
Eye safety tips
At Nevada Eye Physicians, we recommend eye safety tips to protect your eyes from hazards during your daily life:
- Pay attention: Be aware of your surroundings. Think ahead about how you can protect your eyes, whether on the job or playing sports. Consider your situation to determine the most appropriate level of eye protection. This helps you to stay prepared for any possible hazard that may lead to an eye injury.
- Be proactive: The American Optometric Association reports that three out of every five eye injuries occur because of a lack of proper eye protection. Wear eye guards and safety goggles to protect your eyes at all times.
- Never ignore symptoms: It’s important to quickly address eye symptoms. If you’re at work, use the eye-wash station often, even for minor irritations. If after using these stations, your eyes are itching a lot or are increasingly dry, you should contact our vision professionals at Nevada Eye Physicians as soon as possible for an exam.
- Avoid overexposure to irritants: Irritants can drastically affect your vision. Avoid overexposure to the sun, dust, mold, or other allergens. Use safety eyewear to keep your eyes as safe as possible.
Protective eyewear options
At Nevada Eye Physicians in Las Vegas, Mesquite, Henderson, Pahrump, and Boulder City, NV, we offer a variety of protective eyewear and sports eyewear options for our patients. We recommend that athletes wear eye guards when participating in any sports activity. Safety goggles, sunglasses, or prescription glasses are not adequate protection to prevent eye injuries.
Sports eye guards are protective eyewear that look like glasses, but with straps or shields attached to them. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes to suit the needs of any patient wanting eye protection.
Finding the right pair of eye guards is easy when you follow these helpful tips from our vision professionals at Nevada Eye Physicians:
- If you wear prescription glasses, our optometrist can efficiently fit you for this protective eyewear so that your vision isn’t affected.
- When purchasing eye guards with lenses, make sure that the lenses pop outward or will stay in place during accidents. Any lenses that pop in toward the eye are dangerous and can lead to an eye injury.
- Look for protective eyewear with anti-fog coatings and side vents for ventilation. This allows you to see when you are active and fogging may otherwise occur.
- The most impact-resistant option is polycarbonate eye guards. They are also thinner and much lighter than other materials. They provide UV protection too, making them a great choice for patients of all ages at our Nevada office.
- Look for sports eyewear that has padding or cushions along the brow or the bridge of the nose, which will prevent bruising and cuts on the skin.
- Each sport will have a specific ASTM standard, so make sure that you choose protective eyewear that properly adheres to that designation.
At Nevada Eye Physicians, we sell protective eyewear that is certified by an authorized certification organization, like the Safety Equipment Institute. We can help you try on eyewear to determine the most comfortable fit, which also helps deter eye injuries from occurring.
Learning how to protect your eyes with protective eyewear helps reduce eye injuries
Ultimately, eye injury prevention is important for all of our patients at Nevada Eye Physicians. Our vision professionals can provide helpful eye safety tips that reduce your chances of getting a serious eye injury that may potentially damage your vision forever. Using protective eyewear and sports eyewear contributes to the decreased risk of suffering from an eye injury. To learn more about eye safety tips and to look at our protective eyewear options, contact our vision professionals at one of our eye-care locations in Las Vegas, Mesquite, Henderson, Pahrump, and Boulder City, NV today.
