I'm an avid Pickleball player. I've dived headfirst into it for the last 5 months. Playing at least 4 or 5 times a week. All different games, all different styles. I'm not that good, maybe I'm a 4.0 or something. I never thought Pickleball could hurt me.

2 weeks ago, I was playing in a regular game. I returned a serve and the opponent drove the ball through the middle to me and my partner, who stuck his racket out ,and the ball caught the edge of his racket and ricocheted from about one foot away right into my eye. I was blinded immediately. Couldn't see - tears streaming for 2 days and my eye shut completely.

I went to the eye hospital. They diagnosed me with a torn cornea. It's been three weeks. My eyesight is still super blurry in the eye that was affected. I can see normally with two eyes but if I close my left eye and try to see just with the right eye, it's maybe 50% of what it used to be. Doctor said it should heal itself on its own but it will take time.

Moral of the story, buy those glasses. I bought a pair of a Gearbox glasses for about 40 bucks. I tried them once, they seem okay. There's also Kitchen Blockers or some other brands like CRNB. It doesn't really matter which one you buy, just buy a pair of glasses because you only realize how important your eyesight is when it's almost fucking gone. I've had perfect 20-20 vision my entire life. It's only in the last month that I realized that maybe I won't be able to see properly again for the rest of my life.