Pickleball Eye Injuries: Prevention & Treatment

Pickleball injuries have been on the rise alongside the skyrocketing popularity of the game, but it’s not just ankle sprains or ACL injuries players need to worry about. A new study in JAMA Ophthalmology showed an increase in pickleball-related eye injuries in emergency rooms across the country.

“There’s been a big rise in the number of injuries related to pickleball, likely due to the recent increase in popularity of the sport and fact that pickleballs are moving very fast over short distances,” says Nimesh A. Patel, MD, a Mass General Brigham ophthalmologist who specializes in the medical and surgical treatment of vitreoretinal diseases. Dr. Patel treats patients at Mass Eye and Ear and Massachusetts General Hospital and agrees with the study.

He also points out that the smaller court size in pickleball may play a role in how people are getting injured. "In contrast to something like tennis, in pickleball you’re a little bit closer to the person hitting the ball and there’s not as much time to get out of the way,” Dr. Patel explains.

Learn about common pickleball eye injuries, optimal recovery time, and how to stay safe on the court.

Types of pickleball eye injuries

The type and severity of pickleball eye injuries is a wide range, generally caused by a blunt force trauma from being hit with the ball, though occasionally players also get hit with a paddle or get injured in a fall.

This trauma can cause:

• Mild inflammation
• Bleeding in the front of the eye
• Bleeding in the back of the eye
• Retinal tears
• Retinal detachment

Dr. Patel notes that it’s also possible in severe cases to experience a ruptured globe, but that’s much less common. The study also lists orbital fracture as a reported injury from pickleball.

Symptoms of pickleball eye injuries

The most common pickleball-related eye injury Dr. Patel sees is mild inflammation, with patients experiencing mild pain and light sensitivity. “The iris—the colored part of the eye—is responsible for adapting when you go from bright light to dark. If the iris is injured or inflamed, you may feel pain as the pupil constricts under different lighting conditions,” he explains.

For mild pain or inflammation, contact your eye care provider to book an appointment. While the injury may seem minor, even mild eye injuries can progress or get infected. It’s best to be seen by your eye care provider to be careful.

Other symptoms require more urgent medical attention. Urgent eye injury symptoms include:

• Any vision loss
• Flashing lights
• New onset floaters
• Any worsening or changes in symptoms after the injury

If you’re experiencing any of the more urgent symptoms, Dr. Patel recommends being seen as soon as possible. Mass General Brigham’s Mass Eye and Ear has an emergency department open 24 hours a day, with experts who can treat eye injuries.

Recovery time for pickleball-related eye injuries

Pickleball players are known as enthusiastic and dedicated to their sport, and—like most sports players—want to get back to the game as soon as possible.

With eye injuries, the recovery time can vary depending on the severity of the injury and the treatment plan.

If it’s inflammation of the eye or some bruising of the retina, the healing time is usually about 2 to 4 weeks. Dr. Patel says, “You may be prescribed a steroid eye drop to decrease the amount of inflammation, and an eye drop to paralyze the iris to permanently dilate it while it’s healing.” The paralyzing eye drop should help prevent the pain from the iris reacting to changes in the light.

“Other issues like bleeding in the eye can take longer to heal,” Dr. Patel continues, adding, “A retinal tear would require a laser treatment, and a retinal detachment would require an actual surgery to treat.” The recovery times for more serious injuries will be closer to months than weeks.

“Most of the eye injuries we see from pickleball are just inflammation, and we monitor the eye pressure and provide anti-inflammatory eye drops,” he says.

Eye protection for pickleball players

While pickleball is known as a sport that’s easy to pick up, good for beginners and casual players, if you play with any kind of frequency, you need eye protection.

“We would definitely recommend eye protection for pickleball,” Dr. Patel confirms. “I played a lot of sports growing up and I didn’t wear a lot of eye protection. Now I realize how lucky I am to still have two eyes,” he adds.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on sports eye protection in order to protect your eyes while playing pickleball. Low-cost, basic protective eyewear from a local sporting goods store will do the job.

“Some people ask, ‘Well, are my glasses or sunglasses good enough?’ That is probably not good enough, because those can break more easily, but any type of sports eye protection should work,” Dr. Patel explains.

If you play a lot of sports, it may be nice to get a prescription version of your sports protection glasses, but you can also wear standard sports eyewear over your prescription glasses.

He cautions against lensless pickleball glasses, however, noting that you want some kind of actual physical blockade in front of the eyes to protect them. “Unless you’re an extremely serious player, the perceived benefit of lensless glasses isn’t going to impact your game.”

Preventing eye injuries in pickleball

“Eye injuries are very common, just as other injuries from pickleball we see. It’s good to be careful. There’s been a rise of Achilles and other orthopedic injuries in pickleball players as well, so the eyes are one part of the whole process of being safe,” Dr. Patel notes.

Pickleball isn’t inherently more dangerous than other sports. It is, however, the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. and popular amongst amateur players. Less experienced players may not be as nimble at avoiding being hit by the ball, and even multi-sport experienced players may not realize they need eye protection. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that USA Pickleball, the governing body for pickleball in the United States, implements standardized guidelines for protective eyewear to protect players. Similar measures have been successful at reducing injuries in other sports like squash.

 “Pickleball is extremely fun, and when everybody gets outside and plays, exercises, it’s good for you overall. But you have to take care to protect your eyes,” Dr. Patel warns.

Pickleball eye injuries can be severe, so it’s worthwhile to get appropriate protective eyewear and wear it every time you play. Don’t let a stray ball take you out of the game.