One of the few types of injuries that occur in paintball is entirely preventable. Eye injuries happen when people do not wear their goggles. When you are playing a game that uses small projectiles traveling at high rates of speed, it is obviously going to hurt you if you get hit in the eye.

There are a few simple rules that if you make them a habit, will almost entirely reduce your risk of an eye injury when playing paintball. Number one, wear your goggles. Goggles are as important as your paintball mask. Invest in the best pair of goggles you can afford. When compared to the price of an emergency room trip and the prospect of recovering from an eye injury, an investment in your personal safety will seem like a small price.

Make sure everyone on your team and anyone playing paintball with you uses a barrel plug. Paintball guns have a lot of safety features that prevent misfires but you can't always rely on the other person to use them.

Along with goggles, always wear your mask when you're on the playing fields or playing woodsball and a neck protector is always a good idea. As many of the paintball masks miss the all important neck area and a paintball can really sting if you get marked there.

Paintball is a lot of fun and if everyone follows the basics of safe playing, it can be a blast for everyone involved.