Among the abilities that all professional athletes need to have vision is one of the most important. Seeing 20/20 or better is not the only thing that is needed. You also need to have great depth perception, peripheral vision, eye tracking and hand-eye coordination for almost all athletic events. Sports vision is like training for your eyes likes athletes train for their respective sports. Glasses, contact lenses, sports goggles and tinted lenses are just some of the options available. There are also different eye exercises that can improve your ability to track a ball or to have better depth perception.
The first thing your eye doctor will need to do is fully correct your vision to its maximum ability. You may have something called refractive error (nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia) which can be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. The next thing to be tested includes your contrast sensitivity. This is different than the normal eye chart and it measures how fine a detail you can tell between a light and dark background. Other things that can be tested are your depth perception, your ability to use both eyes together, and which eye is your dominant eye.
There are some options that can be added to your glasses to improve your vision even further. Those include anti-reflective coatings to reduce glare, polarized lenses to give protection from the sun and also cut the glare from reflected light, or you can add a special colored tint to improve the contrast for certain sports or activities.
If you are a professional athlete or a weekend warrior, you can find different ways to improve your vision which can elevate your performance. Call (860) 233-2020 to schedule a comprehensive eye exam and ask your doctor how they can help you.
