OC HIGH: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : An Eye on the Ball

Basketball and football are the leading causes of sports-related eye injuries in the 15- to 24-year-old age group.

Elbow injuries to the eye are not uncommon in basketball, nor are deep abrasions (from fingernails) to the cornea, the eye’s clear, outer layer, says says Arlene Drack, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Corneal cuts may also occur during mountain biking or cross-country running, when tree branches slash the eyeball.

Lightweight, shatterproof, polycarbonate safety glasses, goggles or shields should be worn when participating in high-risk sports, including baseball, basketball and football, Drack said.

Racquetball, paddle ball, tennis and other racquet sports also put the eyes at risk for retinal detachment, a serious threat to eyesight in which the retina, the camera film-like structure on the back wall of the eye, is damaged.

Extended Friendship

Two juniors from Laguna Hills High School, who have been friends since the fifth grade, will be gone for a year to participate in different countries as American Field Service foreign exchange students.

Ross Weinberg is in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, where he will attend a Catholic school and live with a family of eight until July. He became interested in AFS when his family hosted a student from Denmark two years ago.

Then Ross got his friend, Camrin Christensen interested in AFS, and she was off last month to the Czech Republic, where she will live with a family of five and attend a Secondary School of Nursing in Kolin, about 45 miles from Prague.

The friends plan to keep in touch during the year and compare notes on their return next summer.