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Eye Injuries Related to Paintball
Every year thousands of people, many of which are children, damage or lose their vision from sports-related eye injuries. However, the good news is that 90 percent of these eye injuries are preventable if appropriate protective eyewear is worn.If you wear prescription glasses, ask your eye doctor to fit you for prescription eyeguards. If you're a monocular athlete (a person with only one eye that sees well), ask your eye doctor what sports you can safely participate in. Monocular athletes should always wear sports eyeguards.
Buy eyeguards at sports specialty stores or optical stores. At the sports store, ask for a sales representative who's familiar with eye protectors to help you.
Resistance to impact is the main difference between safety glasses and regular glasses, which often look just like them. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which sets standards for safety glasses, requires them to withstand the impact of a quarter inch steel ball traveling 150 feet per second. You can't depend on your prescription glasses for this kind of protection. Frames stamped with the imprint "Z87" meet stringent standards for strength and heat resistance.
The best way to protect your eyes while participating in sports is to be sure your sports eyewear has 3-mm polycarbonate lenses. Polycarbonate lenses are impact-resistant and are the thinnest, lightest lenses you can buy. Polycarbonate is also the most shatter-resistant lens material, and it filters 100 percent of ultraviolet (UV) light (which will help prevent radiation eye injuries).
Some sports have documented standards for recommended eye protection. Such standards have been established by the American Society of Testing & Materials (ASTM Standard F803).