Pickleball Eye Injuries: The Risk Nobody Is Talking About

There is a health risk in pickleball that barely gets mentioned at clubs, in coaching sessions, or in beginner guides. Not the elbow. Not the ankle. The eyes.

Research published in JAMA Ophthalmology found that pickleball-related eye injuries rose by an estimated 405 per year between 2021 and 2024. A separate study tracking emergency department data found the rate of pickleball eye injuries increased by 1,791% over the same decade — a rise unlike any other racquet or paddle sport studied. More than 1,200 pickleball-related eye injuries were estimated in 2024 alone in the US — and that only counts emergency department visits. Minor injuries treated by GPs or opticians are not captured.

This is not a niche problem. It is a fast-growing one.

Why Pickleball Is Particularly Risky for Eyes

The combination of factors in pickleball creates a higher eye-injury risk than most players realise.

Ball speed at close range. At the kitchen line — where most of pickleball is actually played — you are standing just a few feet from your opponent. A hard-driven ball can travel at 30–40 mph from that distance, leaving almost no reaction time.

Low ball trajectory. The ball travels at roughly eye level during kitchen exchanges. In tennis, the ball typically passes well above or below the eyes; in pickleball, it comes straight at your face.

Doubles play. In doubles, a partner can accidentally swing into your field of vision, or a ball can deflect off a paddle and change direction unpredictably.

Older player demographics. The average age of a pickleball eye injury patient in the research was 58 years old. Age-related declines in peripheral vision, reaction speed, and reflexes all increase vulnerability. The sport's popularity among the 50+ age group is a factor in the injury numbers.

What Injuries Actually Occur

According to the research, the most common pickleball eye injuries presenting at emergency departments are:

Periocular lacerations (cuts around the eye) — 35% of cases
Corneal abrasions (scratches to the surface of the eye) — 16–27% of cases
Orbital fractures (fractures to the bone around the eye socket) — 11–12% of cases
Iritis (inflammation inside the eye) — around 11%
Vitreous detachment (the gel inside the eye pulling away from the retina) — around 8%
Globe trauma, retinal detachment — less common but the most serious outcomes

Most injuries result in treatment and discharge. But the database used in the research only covers emergency departments — not the opticians, GPs, or self-managed injuries that make up the true picture.

What Causes Them

The ball is responsible for the majority of injuries — around 43–69% depending on the study. Being struck by a paddle accounts for around 12% of cases. Falls cause a significant proportion too (15–28%), often resulting in orbital injuries rather than direct eye trauma.

The Protection Gap

Here is the uncomfortable truth: no governing body currently mandates eye protection in pickleball. Not USA Pickleball, not Pickleball England. There is no requirement at casual play, no requirement at competitive level, and no standard guidance on protective eyewear for the sport.

The research from JAMA Ophthalmology explicitly calls this out and urges governing bodies to develop evidence-based eyewear recommendations — pointing to squash as a model, where targeted education campaigns made players 2.4 times more likely to wear protection.

Up to 90% of sports eye injuries are estimated to be preventable with appropriate eyewear. In a sport where the ball regularly travels at face height from close range, that is a significant gap.

The Player Who Got Hit and Built a Business

Brad Robins was playing 50-plus doubles in Ontario, Canada when he took a ball directly to the eye. Driving home afterwards, he started noticing how often players were getting hit — and how little protective gear anyone was wearing.

Robins, then in his mid-60s and four decades into a career in advertising, co-founded Kitchen Blockers with his playing partner Dave Katz. They worked with an engineer who had previously developed equipment for NATO helmets and eyewear, and spent about a year testing different speeds, angles, and designs.

The result was a lensless frame — no glass or polycarbonate lens at all — that uses military-grade materials and patent-pending impact-deflection technology to redirect the ball away from the eye. The lensless design also eliminates the fogging, glare, and distortion that put players off wearing conventional sports eyewear.

Kitchen Blockers started by selling to players at their local club and running Facebook ads in Canada. It is now sold in more than 50 countries, reported $3.5 million in revenue in its most recent year, and holds official partnerships with USA Pickleball, DUPR, and the PPA Tour — all without outbound sales calls.

It is one of the more striking entrepreneurial stories in the sport. A retirement-age player took a ball to the eye, looked around for a solution, found nothing adequate, and built a multi-million dollar business filling the gap.

What Protection Looks Like

There are three main options, each with a different trade-off.

Lensless protective frames — the Kitchen Blockers approach. No lens at all: just a structured frame designed to deflect the ball away from the eye socket. The advantage is no fogging, no glare, no distortion — complaints that put a lot of players off wearing conventional eyewear. The frame itself absorbs and redirects impact. This is the option purpose-built for pickleball.

Polycarbonate lens sports goggles — the traditional sports eyewear approach. Polycarbonate is impact-resistant and significantly lighter than standard optical glass — it does not shatter on impact. Sports goggles typically wrap around the sides of the face to stop a ball entering from an angle. If you wear a prescription, polycarbonate prescription sports goggles are available. Regular prescription glasses are not designed for impact and should not be treated as protection.

Sunglasses for outdoor play — on a bright day, squinting affects your reaction time and your ability to track the ball. A good pair of wraparound sports sunglasses reduces glare and improves visibility, which has a secondary safety benefit. They are not impact-rated protective eyewear, but for outdoor recreational play they are better than nothing and serve a genuine purpose beyond just comfort.

Standard fashion glasses or sunglasses with standard frames are not adequate as protection — a ball can still make contact around or under the frame, and the lenses are not designed to absorb impact.

Should You Wear Protection?

That is a personal decision — but it is worth making it consciously rather than by default.

The players most at risk are those who play frequently, play competitively at the kitchen line, and are in the older age brackets where reaction time is slower. If that describes you, the case for protective eyewear is strong.

For younger, recreational players the absolute risk per session remains low. But the trajectory of the injury data suggests that as pickleball grows in the UK — as it is growing — the number of eye injuries will follow.

Nobody at your local club is talking about this yet. That does not mean the risk is not there.

Playing regularly in Nottinghamshire? Find clubs and open sessions near you on our courts page.