Special
contact lenses help Beach athletes
By
Bobby Chore
Summer Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
MaxSight lenses are not only developing athletes throughout the world, but
are developing the sense of how athletes and coaches approach their respective
sports. At Cal State Long Beach, these lenses are welcomed into athletics.
The lenses are commonly used in sports such as soccer, tennis, golf and baseball.
Sponsored by both Nike and Bausch & Lomb, MaxSight lenses enhance vision
in order to target fast-moving balls in tennis or soccer, and block out sunlight
when playing golf or running. Although these lenses are not yet popularized
at CSULB, athletes and coaches embrace them.
Athletes such as Chris Lopez, a senior sociology major and player on the baseball
team, are influenced to try these lenses.
“I had actually looked into purchasing them,” Lopez said. “If
they’re supposed to help you see better, then why not wear them, right?”
The lenses come in two types, amber and grey-green, according to the Bausch & Lomb
Web site. Amber is utilized for speedy sports, enhancing awareness of fast-moving
balls.
Grey-green helps improve visual comfort as well as glare and contour vision.
When informed about the effectiveness of these lenses, cross country and track & field
head coach Andy Sythe said, “It’s about time.”
“This would be something I would encourage athletes to use,” Sythe
said. “From a functional standpoint, I think it’s about time.”
Sythe said he sees points from different sides, which are the fact that many
people generally need help with vision, while some simply purchase them without
exactly needing a prescription.
Dr. Noah Brinley of Brinley & Morad Optometry Inc. said athletes inquire
about MaxSight lenses a couple of times a month.
“We don’t see a lot of patients,” Brinley said, “but
overall dynamic sports are more popular. We get mostly baseball and soccer players.”
Men’s golf coach Bob Livingstone said he does not like the frames, but
finds them helpful for reading the putting green.
“ I don’t think golfers are fans of contact lenses, because of the
inconvenience of keeping them in and keeping them lubricated,” Livingstone
said. “I would never prohibit my guys from wearing them, though.”
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