Boxing and eye protection/injuries

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Fire Belly

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G'day

About six months ago I went in for one of my regular eye check ups. Basically the doc said that my eyes were more susceptible to retinal detachments and that I should avoid boxing or anything that involves a lot of blows to the head/eyes.

As much as I'd love to do what he said, I still find myself going back to the ring to train. I have heard that you can get safety glasses for boxing but have never seen them. Just wondering, would someone be considered a massive douchebag if they started sparring with safety glasses on?

Also, how common are retinal detachments in boxing generally?

Aside from one quote in 'Million Dollar Baby' I can't think of ever hearing about a boxer or any other fighter getting a detached retina.

Makes me wonder if the eye doc was making a mountain out of a molehill.
 
"I am genuinely concerned about the risks of subtle eye injuries to amateur boxers. Amateur boxing gloves lack the thumbs which used to cause blunt trauma to the eyes. But eye injury is an area where there is still considerable discussion. Older studies show up to 75% prevalence of old eye injury, most especially retinal tears. A newer survey of elite Turkish boxers showed only one of twenty with an eye injury (Br. J. Sport. Med. 36: 428, 2002). The vast majority of these never produce any loss of vision. However, a retinal detachment is catastrophic, and the story of Sugar Ray Leonard is well-known. It would seem wise for the boxer's primary care physician to do a dilated eye examination at the routine annual physical exam. "

Why I Support Amateur Boxing

I have never heard of eye glasses for boxing.



" Boxing -

PROTECTION: None. This high-risk sport has no suitable eye protection. Athletes with only one functional eye (defined as visual acuity worse than 20/50 in the weaker eye) should not participate in this sport."

Doctor's Guide to Eye Protection for Sports

If you choose to box know that there is a risk, but in truth it seems all boxers are at risk for it. Maybe try getting another opinion from another doctor.
 
Herr Webster said:
G'day

About six months ago I went in for one of my regular eye check ups. Basically the doc said that my eyes were more susceptible to retinal detachments and that I should avoid boxing or anything that involves a lot of blows to the head/eyes.

As much as I'd love to do what he said, I still find myself going back to the ring to train. I have heard that you can get safety glasses for boxing but have never seen them. Just wondering, would someone be considered a massive douchebag if they started sparring with safety glasses on?

Also, how common are retinal detachments in boxing generally?

Aside from one quote in 'Million Dollar Baby' I can't think of ever hearing about a boxer or any other fighter getting a detached retina.

Makes me wonder if the eye doc was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Click to expand...

Does he mean you're more susceptible because you train, or is there something about your eye that makes it more prone to retinal detachment?
 
Herr Webster said:
G'day

About six months ago I went in for one of my regular eye check ups. Basically the doc said that my eyes were more susceptible to retinal detachments and that I should avoid boxing or anything that involves a lot of blows to the head/eyes.

As much as I'd love to do what he said, I still find myself going back to the ring to train. I have heard that you can get safety glasses for boxing but have never seen them. Just wondering, would someone be considered a massive douchebag if they started sparring with safety glasses on?

Also, how common are retinal detachments in boxing generally?

Aside from one quote in 'Million Dollar Baby' I can't think of ever hearing about a boxer or any other fighter getting a detached retina.

Makes me wonder if the eye doc was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Click to expand...

Where a saftey mask. Screw goggles. use a mask.
 
Does head gear help protect against eye injury?
 
you didn't ask if there was a cure for it or something? there has to be..
 
IEMuayThai said:
Does he mean you're more susceptible because you train, or is there something about your eye that makes it more prone to retinal detachment?
Click to expand...

I'm susceptible due to having shit eyes.

To the other question:

Retinal detachment is reversible if it's caught soon enough. Basically if you start getting flashes of light in your eyes or seeing cobwebs floating around or if your peripheral vision starts fading then you need to get to the doc or emergency room asap.

I read somewhere that if it's caught straight away then there's a 90% success rate for reattachment.
 
A friend of mine had to stop boxing because of this. He was on his country's development team and was told he'd go blind if he kept it up.
 
Personally I'd never do anything that had a high probability of jeopardizing my vision, so if I were in your shoes I'd continue to train recreationally and spar with light contact to the head.

Better yet, transition from Boxing to Muay Thai, which places less emphasis on head strikes.
 
i actually got a detached retina from boxing, so yeah.. havnt done any sparring since then. its up to you if you want to take that risk, it'll always be there no matter what.. sometimes you just get unlucky
 
Capt.Canuck said:
Personally I'd never do anything that had a high probability of jeopardizing my vision, so if I were in your shoes I'd continue to train recreationally and spar with light contact to the head.

Better yet, transition from Boxing to Muay Thai, which places less emphasis on head strikes.
Click to expand...

This. If I were in your shoes Id get some good headgear and stick to light sparring.
 
yes, eye injury can be very dangerous
not only eyes but be careful of ur ears too!
 
I spoke to my old optometrist today (been seeing him since I was like five) about this.

His reply was that the young optometrist I spoke to was more likely to be someone who had something against the sport. Now that I think about it, I do remember the young doctor saying that he wouldn't recommend boxing for anyone, and was pretty negative about the whole thing). My old opdoc admitted there as a higher risk for me because of the condition of my eyes, but when I asked him what odds there were on me getting a detached retina he said it would be in the vicinity of 1 in 1000.

He also said that I'd know straight away if something was wrong and that it wasn't something that I should worry about.

He did say that elbows would be more damaging to the eyes than a gloved hand.

This is a guy with over 40 years of optometry experience.

Anyway, it's what I needed to hear. During my last sparring session I was really self-conscious about my eyes and it fucked with my game. It'll be good to get the gloves back on now.
 
I sustained a fairly serious eye injury about a year or so ago as a result of getting a toe in the eye from a head kick. My retina did not detach, but there was lots of inflamation and I had weird side-effects like flashes of light and floaters in my vision.

I saw a retinal specialist like 3 or 4 times within a 3 week period. I was on a "no exercise whatsoever" plan for a few weeks because any excessive head movement may have caused the retina to actually detach. Eventually the eye doctor said my eye healed fine and I could go back to exercising, but he did strongly encourage me to give up kickboxing.

It took me months to get back into the swing of things and do contact drills and sparring again, and I was a total headcase about getting hit in the eye, but I eventually got over it. I still have weird flashes of light and floaters, but the eye doctor says its nothing to worry about and its possible they'll go away eventually.
 
Hoi, I had a similar eye injury last summer during a light sparring session. I lazily swayed back to dodge a head kick and I was hit square in the eye with a toe. My vision became blurred immediately and then a huge blind spot formed in the center of my vision. After consulting an optometrist and a retinal specialist, I found out that I suffered from a retinal hemorrhage. The specialist told me that I, "couldn't have chosen a worse place to get an eye injury."

The specialist also told me that surgery wouldn't fix the problem; I just needed time for my eye to heal, which could be up to one year. Even then, my vision will never be 100% again in that eye.

It's been seven months since the injury, and my vision has slowly improved. Instead of a dark grey blind spot, I can now see color and large objects. However, the objects that I can see are distorted; it's as if I'm looking through a pair of glasses that are an absurdly wrong prescription.

I've tried to stay away from the gym, but I simply can't. So, instead of sparring, I just train and help coach. I've yet to find head gear that I trust enough to protect my eyes. Until then I'm steering clear of sparring because I basically only have one eye and I don't have a back-up plan if that eye gets injured.
 
Hey there,

I know this thread is old, but since I've recently suffered the same sort of eye injury you guys did, I'm wondering if anyone has found some decent martial-arts eye protection...? You guys have had about 8 months, so someone must have found something! :icon_lol: Just doing a Google search turns up about seven million hits, so if you've found something you've actually tried out and can evaluate, that would be awesome.

Thank you. Any tips or hints to help me get through this without having to give up karate would be very much appreciated.

-KarateGirl
 
Herr Webster said:
G'day

About six months ago I went in for one of my regular eye check ups. Basically the doc said that my eyes were more susceptible to retinal detachments and that I should avoid boxing or anything that involves a lot of blows to the head/eyes.

As much as I'd love to do what he said, I still find myself going back to the ring to train. I have heard that you can get safety glasses for boxing but have never seen them. Just wondering, would someone be considered a massive douchebag if they started sparring with safety glasses on?

Also, how common are retinal detachments in boxing generally?

Aside from one quote in 'Million Dollar Baby' I can't think of ever hearing about a boxer or any other fighter getting a detached retina.

Makes me wonder if the eye doc was making a mountain out of a molehill.
Click to expand...

I remember a while ago, someone famous got a detached retina. Maybe nog or cro cop.

anwyays, do a google search for fighters in the ufc or mma with retina injuries.

a quick search brings up belcher, scott junk, joe soto.
 
Probably the best protection you're gonna find for your face/eyes.

evhg1.jpg


Safety Cage Headgear-Everlast.com
 
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