AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness AMERICAN ACADEMY OF OPHTHALMOLOGY Eye Health and Public Information Task Force P OLICY S TATEMENT Organizational Principles to Guide and Define the Child Health Care System and/or Improve the Health of All Children Protective Eyewear for Young Athletes ABSTRACT. The American Academy of Pediatrics and American Academy of Ophthalmology strongly recom-
mend protective eyewear for all participants in sports in
which there is risk of eye injury. Protective eyewear
should be mandatory for athletes who are functionally
1-eyed and for athletes whose ophthalmologists recom-
mend eye protection after eye surgery or trauma. ABBREVIATIONS. ASTM, American Society for Testing and Ma-
terials; ANSI, American National Standards Institute; CSA, Cana-
dian Standards Association; HECC, Hockey Equipment Certifica-
tion Council. BACKGROUND More than 42 000 sports and recreation-related eye injuries were reported in 2000. 1 Seventy-two percent of the injuries occurred in individuals younger than
25 years, 43% occurred in individuals younger than
15 years, and 8% occurred in children younger than
5 years. 1 Children and adolescents may be particu- larly susceptible to injuries because of their aggres-
sive play, athletic maturity, 2 4 and poor supervision in some recreational situations. The sports highlighted in this statement were cho- sen on the basis of their popularity and/or the high
incidence of eye injuries in that sport. Participation
rates and information on the severity of the injuries
are unavailable; therefore, the relative risk of signif-
icant injuries cannot be determined for various
sports. Baseball and basketball are associated with
the most eye injuries in athletes 5 to 24 years old. 1 The eye-injury risk of a sport is proportional to the chance of the eye being impacted with sufficient
energy to cause injury. The risk is not correlated with
the classification of sports into collision, contact, and
noncontact categories. Instead, the risk of eye injury
to the unprotected player is roughly categorized as
high risk, moderate risk, low risk, and eye safe. The
sports included in each of these categories are listed
in Table 1. EVALUATION All athletes and their parents should be made aware of the risks associated with participation in sports and the availability of a variety of certified
sports eye protectors. Although eye protectors can-
not eliminate the risk of injury, appropriate eye
protectors have been found to reduce the risk of
significant eye injury by at least 90% when fitted
properly. 4 6 It would be ideal if all children and adolescents wore appropriate eye protection for all
eye-risk sports and recreational activities. Physicians should strongly recommend that ath- letes who are functionally 1-eyed wear appropriate
eye protection during all sports, recreational, and
work-related activities. Functionally 1-eyed athletes
are those who have a best corrected visual acuity of
worse than 20/40 in the poorer-seeing eye. 1,4,7 If the better eye is injured, functionally 1-eyed athletes
may be handicapped severely and unable to obtain a
drivers license in many states. 8 Athletes who have had eye surgery or trauma to the eye may have weakened eye tissue that is more
susceptible to injury. 9 These athletes may need addi- tional eye protection or may need to be restricted
from certain sports; they should be evaluated and
counseled by an ophthalmologist before sports par-
ticipation. PROTECTIVE EYEWEAR OPTIONS Eye protection and different brands of sports gog- gles vary significantly in both the way they fit and
their capacity to protect the eye from injury. An
experienced ophthalmologist, optometrist, optician,
physician, or athletic trainer can help an athlete se-
lect appropriate protective gear that fits well and
provides the maximum amount of protection. Sports
programs should assist indigent athletes in evaluat-
ing and obtaining protective eyewear. There are 4 basic types of eyewear. The 2 types that are satisfactory for eye-injury risk sports include: 1. Safety sports eyewear that conforms to the re- quirements of the American Society for Testing
and Materials (ASTM) standard F803 for selected
sports (racket sports, baseball fielders, basketball,
womens lacrosse, and field hockey). 10 2. Sports eyewear that is attached to a helmet or for sports in which ASTM standard F803 eyewear is
inadequate. Those for which there are standard PEDIATRICS (ISSN 0031 4005). Copyright