NEW YORK—Health organizations throughout the U.S. are recognizing September as “Sports Eye Safety Awareness Month” and “Sports Eye Injury Prevention Awareness Month.”

Included in the initiative are Prevent Blindness, Liberty Sport and The Coalition to Prevent Sports Eye Injuries, among other organizations also offering resources on the topic.

Just in time for “back-to-school,” Prevent Blindness has released an updated fact sheet on the number of sports-related eye injuries that occur in the U.S. each year. The association has also created a dedicated web page providing free information to the public, and has teamed up with Liberty Sport and The Coalition to Prevent Sports Eye Injuries to provide educational resources on eye protection during athletic activities. Prevent Blindness and its partners encourage eyecare professionals and retailers to sign up for their 2014 Sports Eye Injury Prevention Awareness Month kit which includes posters, flyers, window banners and more.

Optiwow.com, an online eyewear retailer dedicated to kids and teens frames and lenses, has also joined the initiative by offering 15 percent off any sports goggle, including Leader from Hilco and Liberty Sport, from Sept. 1 through Sept. 30. Customers may receive the discount with coupon code Sportsgoggles.

Honing in on eye health in sports and recreation, eyeSmart, the eye health information website run by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, has published information on high-risk sports and other risky leisure activities that require protective eyewear. The website has also published an infographic, Sports Eye Injuries by the Sports Eye Injuries by the Numbers, highlighting “the score on eye health injuries.”

Numbers highlighted include that 100,000 sports eye injuries occur each year; 42,000 require emergency room care; 13,500 result in blindness; and 1 in 3 occur in children.

Sports eye injury prevention information and sports-specific eye protection recommendations are available now on geteyesmart.org; preventblindness.org/sports-eye-safety; or by calling Prevent Blindness at (800) 331-2020. For more information about Sports Eye Injury Prevention Awareness Month or to request a kit, contact John Minnick, Liberty Sport at (973) 882-0986, ext. 977 or jminnick@libertysport.com.