We all know it’s important to keep children’s eyes safe when playing sports and doing physical activities, but what about adults and seniors? Well, your eye safety is just as important!

Adults and seniors need the same eye protection that is provided to children because, in fact, eye trauma is very painful, and can result in vision loss or disease. That’s one reason for active senior citizens to use proper eyewear and eye protection when playing sports.

Here is another: Avoiding eye injuries allows you to keep enjoying your athletics while maintaining proper eye health.

Here are some tips to keep you playing (and seeing) in a healthy way.

Proper Eye Protection

Whether you wear corrective lenses or not, it is important to protect your eyes from a multitude of possible injuries. For example, playing a ball-focused sport, like tennis or pickleball, you want to shield your eyes from being hit with a ball flying at a high speed. Besides eye damage, being hit in the eye can lead to serious eye diseases, such as retinal detachment, resulting in vision loss.

Safety glasses made with your prescription

Dr. Van Amerongen suggests that you wear protective eyewear such as racquet sports glasses when playing your ball-focused sport of choice. The safety glasses you wear should be made of polycarbonate with UV filters. Safety glasses can be made with your prescription and worn in place of your day-to-day glasses. Even if you wear contact lenses, wearing non-prescription safety glasses in conjunction with them is highly suggested because they will help to protect you from potential eye trauma.

Avoid a visit to the ER! Call Dr. Van instead.

If you do experience eye trauma, be sure to contact Dr. Van right away. He can help you quickly and efficiently without a visit to the Emergency Room! 

UV Protection Outdoors and In

Protecting your eyes from harmful UV rays is always important, and especially here in Colorado! Wearing sunglasses during the summer and year-round can help protect your eyes from damaging light from the sun and even from indoor sources.

To provide adequate protection for your eyes, your sunglasses should:

• Block out 99 to 100% of both UV-A and UV-B radiation.
• Screen out 75 to 90% of visible light.
• Have lenses that are perfectly matched in color and free of distortion and imperfection.
• Have lenses that are gray or brown depending on your preference.

Polycarbonate or Trivex® lenses

When playing sports, sunglass lenses should be made from polycarbonate or Trivex® material, just like the safety glasses/goggles mentioned above. These lenses are very durable and resist impact. Wearing wraparound frames should be considered as they offer even more UV protection for your eyes.

There are even certain contact lens brands that offer UV protection and are a great option for everyday use.

Van’s Eyecare offers all the above choices of protective eyewear.

Be sure to check with Dr. Van during your annual comprehensive exam to see which eyewear option is the best fit for you and your sun protection needs.

Vision Exam

To keep you at peak athleticism, be sure to schedule your annual comprehensive eye exam. Not only will Dr. Van check your vision and offer you corrective lenses, if necessary, but he will also screen for over 270 different diseases!

No dilation required
With our new digital imaging camera, Dr. Van will acquire cutting-edge, superior-quality, natural-color images of your retina in about 30 seconds – no dilation required. You will also receive the traditional tests for visual acuity, eyeglasses and/or contact lens prescription, eye muscle testing, and a glaucoma check.

All this is available without the scheduling and comfort nuisance of hours-long pupil dilation.

Up your game.

Being confident in your vision and overall eye health will surely up your game, whether it is pickleball, tennis or everyday life. Our goal at Van’s Eyecare is for you to have healthy eyes and clear comfortable vision. Call for an appointment today.