Story highlights Sports-related eye injuries mostly affect kids younger than 18, new research shows

Basketball, cycling and baseball are among the sports that lead to the most eye injuries

(CNN) Every basketball or softball player expects some scrapes and sprains, but those sports are also among the leading causes of sport-related eye injuries, according to a new study.

Ocular trauma is any type of injury that occurs to the eye or the tissues around it. It can be as simple as a black eye or as serious a fracture of bones surrounding the eye, said Dr. R. Sterling Haring, lead author of the study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology. Eye injuries can lead to long-term vision impairment and can affect learning, work, relationships and a person's ability to drive.

"There's not an aspect of your life that this wouldn't touch," said Haring, a researcher with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Lugano.

The study examined visits to emergency departments in 900 hospitals nationwide. From 2010 to 2013, about 30,000 patients visited emergency rooms every year with sports-related eye injuries. The numbers would be higher if visits for urgent care facilities, ophthalmologists or other physicians were taken into account, said Haring.

Among those with sport-related eye injuries, 60% of the males and 67% of the females were 18 or younger.

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