Not all kids are not ready for contact lenses at a particular age; it depends entirely on their maturity and ability to handle an extra personal care task. You may have a child who is responsible enough to cope with contacts but a tween who is not. This advice from All About Vision will help you decide whether your child is ready for contacts.
Kids and Contact Lenses
A recent study found 90 percent of kids aged 8 to 11 with nearsightedness required no assistance in applying or removing one-day disposable contacts. If you are unsure if your child would be one of them, consider the following:
- How well does you child manage other responsibilities, particularly those related to personal grooming, keeping the bedroom and bathroom clean, and home chores?
- Does your child need frequent reminders to tidy up or to follow proper hygiene practices?
- Does your child follow instructions well?
Kids who experience no difficulty with such tasks tend to be good candidates for contacts.
Benefits of Contact Lenses for Kids
There are also a number of benefits of contacts, as GP Contact Lenses explains:
- Orthokeratology lenses, which are worn at night, may be able to slow the development of myopia, particularly in children.
- Kids and teens often prefer contacts to glasses because of appearance. Wearing contacts can affect a child’s self-esteem, which, in turn, may influence personality and school performance, and it may have benefits that carry over into later life.
- Children are often better at taking care of contacts than adults, as they closely follow cleaning instructions and take the responsibility very seriously. Your eye doctor will offer your child regular eye exams and will cancel the prescription for contacts immediately if there is any suggestion that your child is shirking good care practices.
Contact lenses can have UV protection, but as they only cover a small part of the eye, kids should still wear sunglasses whenever they are outdoors. Choose a pair with polycarbonate lenses to wear over contacts for impact resistance when playing sports. You can find a range of designs in the Real Kids collection.