Most Pickleball Players Skip Eye Protection - and Injuries Are Rising as the Sport Grows
Pickleball is now the fastest-growing sport in the United States, with an estimated 36 million players as of recent surveys. It is also generating a category of injury that the ophthalmology community is watching with concern: eye trauma from the sport's hard polymer ball, which travels at speeds that can cause serious damage on impact.
A survey study published in JAMA Ophthalmology examined how many pickleball players - professional and amateur - use protective eyewear, and what kind. The findings are straightforward and concerning: rates of protective eyewear use are low overall, and a substantial portion of players who do wear something rely on ordinary prescription glasses that may not provide adequate protection against a direct ball strike.
The Injury Landscape
Eye injuries from racket sports and paddle sports have been recognized for decades in sports medicine. Tennis, squash, and racquetball have all generated injuries ranging from corneal abrasions and hyphema (bleeding inside the eye) to more severe ruptures and retinal detachments. Sports medicine guidelines for squash and racquetball have long recommended polycarbonate protective eyewear as the standard - eyewear that meets ASTM International specifications for impact resistance.
Pickleball presents a related but distinct risk profile. The Wiffle-style polymer ball is larger than a squash ball and travels more slowly at elite levels than a tennis ball, but at recreational play distances - the "kitchen" or non-volley zone is only 7 feet from the net - reaction time is minimal and ball speed is sufficient to cause injury. Pickleball-related eye injuries have increased in frequency as player numbers have grown, though systematic national data on injury rates remains limited.
What the Survey Found
The study surveyed both professional-level and amateur pickleball players. Among professionals, rates of reported protective eyewear use were low. Among amateurs, use was higher but still below 50 percent - meaning the majority of recreational players enter the court without eye protection designed to withstand a ball impact.
Among players who did report wearing something, a meaningful portion used their personal prescription glasses rather than sport-specific protective eyewear. Standard prescription frames and lenses - including polycarbonate prescription lenses in regular frames - are not equivalent to certified sports protective eyewear. They lack the wrap-around coverage and the frame retention features that prevent the eyewear from becoming a projectile itself upon impact, and the frame construction may not absorb impact force in the same way as certified protective designs.
The practical distinction matters: a pickleball that strikes someone wearing regular glasses may shatter the lens into the eye or drive the frame into the orbit, creating an injury pattern potentially worse than no eyewear at all. Certified protective eyewear is specifically designed to prevent this by distributing impact force across the frame and retaining structural integrity upon strike.
Why People Do Not Wear Eye Protection
The survey study characterizes behavior but does not fully diagnose its causes. Protective eyewear in sports is typically underused for a combination of reasons: players underestimate injury risk, find the eyewear uncomfortable or unfamiliar, perceive it as unnecessary for recreational-level play, or are simply unaware that the risk exists. In sports with established cultures of eye protection - squash, racquetball, men's lacrosse - protective eyewear has been normalized through mandates, coaching education, and years of injury data.
Pickleball lacks that institutional history. The sport moved from backyard novelty to mainstream recreation in less than a decade, and the safety culture has not kept pace with player growth. Professional organizations, tournament rules, and club-level instructors have not consistently incorporated eye protection into safety guidance, which affects amateur behavior in a sport where recreational players often look to competitive norms as a guide.
What Would Change Behavior
Evidence from other sports suggests that mandates are the most effective lever. When the American Academy of Ophthalmology and USA Racquetball made protective eyewear mandatory for juniors and then for all competitors, wearing rates rose dramatically. Similar effects have been observed in lacrosse and squash. Voluntary recommendation campaigns, by contrast, tend to produce modest changes in behavior, particularly in sports where protective equipment is not yet culturally normalized.
The JAMA Ophthalmology study concludes that given the rise in pickleball-related eye injuries, further efforts to improve consistent use of high-quality protective eyewear are warranted. That framing - "further efforts" - encompasses both targeted education campaigns and structural interventions such as rule changes at the club and tournament level requiring certified eye protection.
Players choosing protective eyewear should look for certification to ASTM F803 standards, which cover eye protectors specifically designed for racket sports and paddle sports. These are widely available from sports optics manufacturers and can be fitted with prescription lenses where needed.