At Vision Professionals of Leawood KS, you're going to meet an optometrist who places a high value on sports and athletics. Dr. Tyler Ohde has been active all his life and he loves helping his children learn new sports. But Dr. Ohde wants every local parent to realize how important proper eye safety is for your children during physical activity—especially since more than 25,000 people seek out medical treatment for sports-related eye injuries every year.
According to the organization, Prevent Blindness, the sports most frequently associated with eye injuries include water sports, baseball, softball, and basketball. But an injury to the eye can occur in virtually every type of physical activity.
Sports eye safety is so important because it can prevent avoidable eye damage (which in severe cases can threaten the loss of vision or even the eye itself). Protective eyewear and headgear minimize the risk of conditions such as:
Such injuries can easily occur due to sports-related incidents like blows or pokes to the eye, getting hit with a piece of sports equipment, or even just getting sand, dirt, or other small debris in the eye.
It's important to realize that regular eyeglasses do not substitute for appropriate eye protection! Our Leawood optometry team can guide you and your child to the recommended protective eyewear, and even prescribe contact lenses so she can see while still wearing their protective equipment.
In addition to eye safety, our Leawood optometrist can also help your child perform better as well by improving his or her sports vision. Treating vision disorders such as astigmatism, nearsightedness, and farsightedness will improve your child's ability to see, maintain adequate hand-eye coordination, and maximize depth perception.
Contact Vision Professionals of Leawood at 913-239-9446 to schedule an appointment with our optometrist Dr. Ohde.