Reason 54: Paintball injuries

ABC News reported: Played by close to 10 million people at more than 2,500 sites across the country, the sport of paintball has become increasingly popular in recent years. According to a new study in Pediatrics, a medical journal published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the number of eye injuries treated in emergency rooms caused by paintball accidents more than doubled from 545 in 1998 to 1,200 in 2000.

Most of the injuries were due to children playing without protective mask or goggles in unsupervised locations such as back yards, woods, and basements. Paintball guns can shoot pellets at distances of up to 300 feet a second, as fast as some bullets. Those small pellets moving at high speeds these guns can cause serious damage to the human eye.