The eyes are the window to the soul and our window to view the world around us. It's through them we experience the beauty of the mountains, the smile of a loved one, and our favorite movie. Good vision is an essential component of living an engaging and fruitful life for many of us. But eye care is one aspect of health that can fall to the wayside until it is too late. 

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) holds World Sight Day every October. IAPB is an alliance of over 150 organizations in over 100 countries with the goal of working together to ensure everyone everywhere has access to universal eye care. They hope to end avoidable sight loss worldwide with appropriate access to care.

This year join us, the IAPB, and people around the globe in celebration and protection of our eyes.

In a world with constant bugging about extended warranties or invasive sales techniques, it can feel pushy when you hear the recommendation for having a backup pair of glasses. But for those with prescription lenses, you may depend on those glasses more than you realize to help travel, complete your work, participate in sports, and take care of your family.

Eye injuries can happen at any time, which isn’t the most helpful when trying to help and teach your child to be safe while still letting them enjoy the fun, independent play. Most eye injuries across all ages come from accidents that occur during sports or other physical activities. For children, this is especially true with that activity, including all forms of physical play.

The good thing is most sports already have a culture of wearing eye protection. Watch any professional athlete participating, and you’ll see they are protecting their eyes. Which is good for them, and you can point to this practice when your child asks why they need to wear protective glasses.

The vast majority of eye injuries across all ages come from accidents that occur during sports or other physical activities. For children, this is especially true with that activity, including all forms of physical play. But younger children are at increased risk of injuries from toys, home supplies, furniture, and playground equipment as well.