What’s worse than a trip to the emergency room with an eye injury? A trip to the emergency room because your teenager has an eye injury. We hate it when our teens are hurt — no matter how old they get, they’ll still be our babies at heart. Since vision is so precious, a young one’s eye injury is something we never want or plan to navigate.
The reality is that our happy-go-lucky offspring are in a high-risk category for eye injuries simply because of their play, pastime activities, and still developing coordination (the brain doesn’t finish developing until the mid to late 20s).
At Stoggles, we value vision, and we understand the risks that our kiddos get into. We make one-of-kind safety eyewear that combines form and function so that you’ll love to wear the specs that keep you protected.
Let’s talk about why older kids and teens need safety glasses and find ones with perfect protection and style. Because let’s face it, if they don’t look cool, you can forget about your kid wearing them.
Are Teens Really Getting Eye Injuries?
Yes, they are, and frequently.
2.4 million eye injuries occur in the US every single year. 35% of those are in the 17 and younger group. That’s not so great. Luckily, with age comes wisdom (kind of). According to the same study, 18 to 20-year-olds represent 23.7% of all vision-based hospitalizations.
Since 1990, eye-related trauma in young people has increased by a whopping 170%. Air guns, like paintball rifles and air-powered pellet guns, account for much of the increase, but there has also been a sharp rise in injuries while playing sports, both at school and for recreation.
Why It’s Important
Your teen’s vision is crucial to their wellbeing, and unlike other parts of their body, vision doesn’t restore itself. Retinal cells are limited: They don’t regenerate. When they’re damaged, vision is damaged.
There’s no room for error with your vision. Experts agree that 90% of all youth sports-based eye injuries every year could be prevented by simply wearing properly fitted safety glasses. The problem is, our cool kids are too cool for school and won’t wear them. And honestly? Adults are guilty of the same thing. Traditional safety glasses are not only unstylish but incredibly uncomfortable.
When Should Young People Wear Safety Glasses
Sometimes it seems like dressing our kids in bubble wrap when they start walking would be the best idea to ensure they don’t get hurt. Then, when they start driving, we just want to wrap their whole car in bubble wrap.
Even though bubble wrap isn’t a viable option, we do everything we can to protect our kiddos when we know there’s a possibility of them getting hurt.
In between bike helmets, sunscreen, and “Did you forget when curfew was” text, we sometimes forget eye protection and how frequently it comes in handy.
Eye Protection for Sports
We’d argue every major sport is a good candidate for safety glasses. If there’s a ball, club, or bat involved, there’s the potential for an eye injury. Sports played outdoors present another risk: sun damage.
Ocular sun damage can cause a condition called photokeratitis, a type of sunburn of the eyes that results in:
- Excessive tearing
- Feeling like there is grit or sand in the eye
- Burning
- Blurred vision
- Pain
Photokeratitis is usually caused by sunlight reflected off of a surface like snow, ice, water, or sand. Safety glasses that provide UV protection not only protect eyes from impact injury but from damaging sun rays, too.
It’s not only the sun we need to worry about while we sit in the stands and eat sunflower seeds.
Here’s a not-fun fact: In middle and high school sports, blows or falls while playing a sports activity cause 72% of all eye injuries. Having your slugger wear safety specs while they play is the smart way to protect their vision and prevent an unnecessary trip to the hospital.
Eye Protection for School
Most of the time, students will always be given appropriate safety glasses when needed at school. Who can forget the oversized, bleach-scented goggles issued right along with your formaldehyde-infused frog?
The problem is that one teacher in a class can find it hard to ensure all the students are correctly wearing their safety glasses. If your tweens and teens hate the goggles, they’ll probably just slide them up onto their forehead, exposing their eyes to chemicals they aren’t quite that great at handling.
To avoid frog-guts in the eye, supply your jr. scientists with a great-fitting, stylish pair of safety eyewear they’ll want to wear around their peers. Does the science fair give out “Best Dressed”? No? Well, if they did, Stoggles would win.
Eye Protection Around the House
It’s obvious your younger family members should be wearing safety glasses if they’re helping you with home improvements, yard work, or even cleaning with chemicals. But have you thought about protecting your teen’s eyes when they’re glued to their favorite devices?
The problem with devices like smartphones, tablets, and even LED televisions is that they emit blue light. Researchers aren’t yet sure what kind of long-term impact this will have on our vision, but there is a concern that artificial blue light can disrupt the natural circadian rhythms. (While teenagers are kinda known for going to bed at 2 AM and waking up at noon, blue light might not be exactly helping the situation.)
Beyond long-term vision impact, blue light can cause eye strain, eye fatigue, headaches, blurred vision, and even interfere with sleep patterns. Wearing a pair of blue light-blocking safety glasses while they’re gaming or scrolling can protect their eyes.
Eye Protection for Summer Jobs
Part-time or summer jobs are a great way to get experience in the workplace, learn responsibility, and understand finances.
If your teen’s summer job involves yard work, construction, or manual labor, it’s a great idea to pack a pair of safety glasses in their bag along with their sandwich. Although they may be given safety glasses by their employer, a pair that fits better and is more comfortable has a better chance of staying on their face.
How Can We Help Protect the Next Generation’s Eyes?
You can encourage your teen to wear safety eyewear regularly; help them learn when their vision is at risk and when ocular protection is needed.
Lead By Example
The best way to encourage your youngsters to wear safety glasses may be to wear them yourself. Learn when your eyes are at risk, and be willing to wear safety eyewear to protect your vision. Yes, that means wearing eye protection when you mow the lawn or make home improvements.
“Get them started young” can mean showing your kids the original Jurassic Park movie a little earlier than might be recommended so that they grow up with good taste. But more importantly, it can also mean wearing your safety specs when your kid is in diapers; safety eyewear will just be a normal part of everyday life for them.
Get Them Glasses They’ll Actually Wear
Traditional safety glasses aren’t just bulky and unattractive. If you’ve had difficulty getting your teens to play by the rules and keep their safety glasses on, we’ve got the solution.
Stoggles offers safety glasses in unique, trendy shapes, like cat-eye, square, round, and rectangle, in dozens of fashionable colors. Our streamlined, ultra-comfortable design gives us ultimate cool points with young and old alike.
Plus, it’s a look so stylish that it will probably make your next holiday card (just saying).
The Stoggles Difference
Your family needs vision protection, but safety glasses only protect them if they wear them. Stoggles safety eyewear is made to protect our vision and our individual style.
Your tweens and teens will love the lens and color options, allowing them to fully customize their look and hone in on their unique style. But, Stoggles aren’t just for comfort and fashion. Our safety eyewear protects with some of the highest specifications available in the industry.
Each pair of Stoggles comes standard with:
- Side and top shields. These protect vulnerable spaces near the eyebrows and temples.
- UV blocking lenses. Our frames and lenses are made from polycarbonate, which is naturally UV blocking.
- Anti-fog coating. Never worry that your teen will need to remove their glasses to wipe the fog away, making them susceptible to injury. An anti-fog coating ensures those safety specs never fog and never need wiping.
- Prescription availability. If your loved ones wear corrective lenses, we can customize their safety glasses with their prescription. We handle prescriptions in-house, saving you time and money.
Stoggles Family Are Safe (and Stylish) Families
Vision is important and delicate, and your older kids and teens are likely in numerous situations that place their vision at risk. Play it safe (and make bold fashion moves) by wearing safety eyewear.
For eyewear that offers the ultimate in protection you want and the style your teens crave, Stoggles are the solution. Let Stoggles protect their eyes so you can cheer them on in confidence.
Sources:
Pediatric eye injury-related hospitalizations in the United States | NIH
Spike Seen in Kids' Eye Injuries From BB, Paintball Guns | Piedmont HealthCare
Pediatric Ocular Trauma And the Pandemic | Review of Opthalmology.com
Causes of pediatric eye injuries. A population-based study | PubMed