Vision is a critical part of sports performance.  At the elite level of sports, the athletes tested have been found to have above normal visual acuity.  It is not only acuity but the entire visual system including association areas in the brain dealing with the visual response which are special.  When a pitcher delivers a pitch at 90 miles an hour, the batter must react almost immediately.  The interesting factor is that once the eye sees the release of the pitch, it takes two-tenths of a second for that visual information to arrive at the visual cortex at the back of the brain.  By the time the brain perceives the pitch, the ball has already traveled 25 feet toward the batter.  Ofcoarse, the same considerations apply to reaction time on the tennis court. There is no doubt that there are numerous immeasurable clues that the batter or tennis player processes in order to get to the ball.  One physical finding that is readily measurable is the visual acuity of the professional baseball player.  Many of the outstanding batters have acuity which is far better than 20/20.  A batter with 20/10 acuity can see the stitches on the baseball as it is released by the pitcher.  This enables him to predict the type of pitch (curveball, slider) that is coming his way.

If there is an athlete in your family, he or she should have their visual acuity measured and the examiner should not stop at correcting the vision to 20/20 but should attempt to correct the vision to the very best that is possible.  A nearsighted baseball player might require the smallest amount of additional power in the eyeglasses or contacts to get to 20/15 and this could make all the difference at the bat or on the tennis court.  Of coarse here in Miami where the glare is so intense, any residual refractive error can enhance the glare as well.

I take this same approach with the senior sportsman/sportswoman who are coming to cataract surgery at Miami Eye Center.  Whether they are avid golfers, tennis players, sports anglers or pilots, these folks need an optimum visual outcome.  This means selecting the best intraocular lens for that individual, meticulously obtaining the most accurate preoperative measurements on that person’s eye and delivering an outcome which exceeds the patient’s expectations. 

A professional fishing guide needs optimum contrast sensitivity and minimum glare.  While it would be nice to offer a multifocal lens in order to eliminate glasses, this would not be the best choice; rather an aspheric lens would fulfill the guides requirements.  And if there is any astigmatism, that must be addressed.

If you are an up and coming athlete or a more seasoned veteran, have your visual acuity optimized, it will make more of a difference than you might think.