Wear eye protection when you play squash. If you read nothing else on this page, that is the useful part, and it is worth putting first rather than burying it under a paragraph of scene-setting.
The reasoning matters too, because plenty of experienced players have decided the risk is theoretical. It is not.
Why squash specifically
Other racket sports carry some risk. Squash concentrates several factors at once. The ball is small enough to pass inside the bony rim of the eye socket rather than being stopped by it, which is exactly the geometry that turns an impact into an eye injury rather than a bruised cheekbone. It travels extremely fast off a full drive. And both players share a single enclosed space with no net between them, facing the same wall, often within a racket's length of one another.
Add the swing itself. Follow-throughs happen at head height in a confined court, and a racket frame arriving unexpectedly does damage of its own. Most players who have been hit in squash were hit by their opponent's racket, not by the ball.
The risk is well documented
Squash appears consistently in medical literature on sports-related eye injuries, and racket sports as a group account for a meaningful share of them. The pattern is not gradual wear. It is one impact, on an ordinary evening, in a friendly game, causing an injury that can be permanent.
That is the uncomfortable part. There is no build-up and no warning, which is precisely why habitual protection is the answer rather than judgement about when a session is risky.
Your everyday glasses are not eye protection
Standard prescription spectacles are not designed for impact. Lenses can break, frames can bend into the face, and the open sides leave the socket exposed from angles that matter. Wearing them offers a false sense of protection in the situation you most need real protection.
Contact lenses offer none at all. If you wear glasses to play, you want proper squash eyewear worn over them, or a protective frame made to take a prescription lens.
What rated eyewear actually means
Buy eyewear designed and rated for squash rather than general sports sunglasses or gym eyewear. The features that matter are consistent across brands:
- Polycarbonate lenses, which resist impact rather than shattering.
- A closed wraparound design that covers the whole socket, including from the side.
- A frame tested against a recognised racket sports or impact standard, usually stated on the packaging or the product page.
- No open apertures large enough for a squash ball to reach the eye through.
If a product does not tell you which standard it meets, treat that as an answer. Fashion sports eyewear with a tinted lens and an open frame is not the same category of object.
Juniors: usually not optional
Many clubs and governing bodies require eye protection for junior players, and it is common for junior competition and coaching sessions to refuse entry without it. Some clubs extend the requirement to all members, and some make it a condition of court hire.
Check your own club's rules before a first session rather than after, and check the competition regulations separately if your child is entering anything organised. Rules vary by club, county and event, and the club is the authority, not us.
Fit is the part people get wrong
Protection only works if it is in the right place when the impact arrives. Eyewear that slides down the nose during a rally protects nothing. Look for an adjustable strap or temple arms that hold position under sweat, a bridge that suits the wearer's face, and full coverage of the socket with no gap at the outside corner of the eye.
Juniors need their own size rather than an adult pair worn loosely. A child's face is a different shape, and a loose adult frame is close to useless.
Fogging, and the real reason people take them off
Almost nobody abandons eye protection because they stopped believing in it. They abandon it because it fogged in the third game and they could not see the ball. That problem is solvable.
Choose a frame with proper ventilation, look for an anti-fog coating, and use a dedicated anti-fog product if your court runs warm. Do not wipe lenses dry with a sweaty shirt, since that strips the coating and scratches the surface. Let the eyewear reach court temperature before you start rather than pulling it out of a cold car and straight onto your face. If a pair fogs badly no matter what you do, replace it rather than playing without.
Before your next session
A short checklist worth running once, and then never thinking about again:
- Confirm your club's eye protection policy, and any junior requirement, by asking at reception.
- Buy eyewear made for squash, with polycarbonate lenses and a stated impact standard.
- Fit it properly, and buy junior sizes for juniors rather than making do.
- Keep it in the racket bag permanently so the decision is never made in a hurry.
- Replace it when the lens is scratched enough to affect vision, or after any significant impact.
It is the cheapest piece of kit in the bag relative to what it protects, and the only one that has nothing to do with how well you play. Come and try a few pairs for fit alongside the rest of our squash equipment — it takes a couple of minutes and fit is the whole game with eyewear. If you are kitting out a junior from scratch, sort the eyewear at the same time as the racket, not as an afterthought once they are already playing.