Published: July 9, 2022
According to the American Optometric Association, about 90 million Americans of all ages participate in sports. With any sport, players must assume the risk of injury, whether it be broken bones, torn ligaments or damaged muscles. But what happens when a sports injury affects an athlete’s ability to see?
University of Alabama at Birmingham baseball player Leo Harris found out firsthand the importance of seeking immediate eye care after a sports-related eye injury.
A native of Biloxi, Mississippi, Harris has been playing baseball since he was 5 years old. Prior to coming to UAB, he played at St. Martin High School in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, where he was an honor student and was ranked the No. 3 shortstop and No. 21 overall player in the state of Mississippi by Perfect Game.
After high school, he went on to UAB to continue his education and athletic career.
In the fall of 2020, he was struck in the eye by a fast-moving baseball. He came to UAB Eye Care, the clinical arm of the UAB School of Optometry, with his eye swollen shut and about the same size as the baseball that hit him.
“With any injury, there’s always some worry going on,” Harris said. “But for me, the thoughts right after that injury were just, ‘I hope this isn’t anything serious, or anything that keeps me out for long.’”
Harris was able to receive immediate eye care through BlazerVision, a program created by Kathy Weise, O.D., director of the Pediatric Optometry Service at UAB Eye Care.
BlazerVision is a partnership between UAB Athletics, UAB School of Optometry, and the UAB Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences that provides each student-athlete with comprehensive eye care, acute game-time care and state-of-the-art concussion baseline testing.
Through BlazerVision, Harris received swift attention at UAB Eye Care, where his condition dramatically improved under Weise’s care.
“With Leo’s injury, we were afraid we would find a detached retina, which could lead to blindness,” Weise says. “However, we found that what he had was a bruised retina, which we see with some regularity after a hit to the eye. Thankfully, the bruise to the retina was benign, and healed much like any other bruise.”
Fortunately, Harris’ injury was not as serious as it could have been. After treatment and a few weeks of healing, he was able to return to practice and games quickly.
“The UAB Eye Care clinic was great,” Harris says. “Dr. Weise and everyone there who helped were amazing and did everything possible to get me back on the field quickly, from checkups to checking on the healing process, to making sure my vision is where it needed to be to perform on the field.”
Harris is now a junior at UAB, where he is studying sports communication in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Communication Studies. His injury did not change his love for baseball, and he is currently playing on UAB’s baseball team as a pitcher.
The positive outcome of Harris’ ordeal is a lesson on the importance of seeking immediate attention from an eye care professional after an eye injury. Treatment options and effectiveness can vary greatly the longer an eye injury goes untreated.
“With any sports-related eye injury, there can be some catastrophic things that go wrong,” Weise says. “You can have a detached retina, which can cause blindness. You can have bones that break in your face right under your eyeball, which can cause double vision — fractures to your facial bones are never good. The odds that injuries like this will happen are low; but if they do, it is so urgent to seek an eye care professional as soon as possible.”