NEW YORK—Prevent Blindness and Liberty Sport are once again partnering for the annual “September is Sports Eye Injury Prevention Awareness Month,” program. According to Prevent Blindness—which has declared September as Sports Eye Safety Awareness Month in an effort to help educate the public on the need to protect vision while playing sports activities—more than 33,000 Americans were treated for sports-related eye injuries in 2017.

As VMAIL previously reported, a recent study, “Epidemiology of Sports-Related Eye Injuries in the United States,” found that patients with primary sports-related ocular trauma were most commonly male. And, the proportion of injuries resulting in impaired vision was highest for those injuries associated with paintball (10.2 percent), shooting an air gun (8.2 percent), racket sports (5.8 percent) and soccer (5.7 percent).

Another study, “Trends in U.S. Emergency Department Visits for Pediatric Acute Ocular Injury” found that although there was a decline in the rate of overall ocular injuries in the study period (2006-2014), there were increases during the study in injuries related to sports (12.8 percent) and household/domestic activities (20.7 percent).

To commemorate the cause, ECPs across the nation have been posting on social media, in an effort to create awareness. Here is a small compilation of posts from Instagram and Twitter centered around those efforts.