Retrospective review of Duke men’s basketball eye care: annual screenings and traumatic injuries

ABSTRACT

Objectives

1) To assess the utility of performing eye screenings for healthy basketball players. 2) To describe the traumatic injuries sustained by competitive college basketball players.

Methods

The eye screening examinations of the Duke University Men’s Basketball players over six seasons were reviewed retrospectively. Traumatic basketball-related eye injuries amongst Duke University Men’s Basketball players over 16 seasons were also reviewed and described.

Results

Forty-four total players underwent screening examinations. Thirteen (29.5%) of athletes had uncorrected or under-corrected refractive errors. One athlete was found to have a severe monocular visual deficit secondary to a traumatic injury in childhood, which was significantly mitigated by a contact lens referral. Eight traumatic ocular injuries in eight different athletes, 8.6% of the total roster players in this interval, required ophthalmologic consultation. Most injuries, 7/8, resulted in no permanent visual impairment. However, two severe episodes of injury required operative intervention, and one episode involving a giant retinal dialysis and traumatic optic nerve head avulsion caused severe, permanent visual loss. Most injuries did not result in significant competition time loss, with a median time loss of 5 days (range 0 to 240 days).

Conclusion

Screening eye examinations in healthy athletes are beneficial for the identification and treatment of refractive errors. Traumatic basketball-related eye injuries are common and result in a wide array of injuries. Although most basketball-related eye injuries do no result in permanent visual loss, given the potential for severe injury, many basketball-related eye injuries require expert ophthalmic consultation.

KEYWORDS:

• Sports vision
• basketball
• ocular trauma
• refractive error

Acknowledgments

The authors have no acknowledgments for this report.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to report.