Wearing contact lenses has many advantages over wearing glasses, so they are very popular among people who have vision problems. Modern manufacturing techniques have made them safe and comfortable. Therefore, parents, whose children for some reason show vision correction, are increasingly asking: is it possible to wear contact lenses to a child, and if so, for how many years? In this article, we will try to answer it.
The benefits of wearing
To begin with, this approach has a number of advantages. The main ones in the context of childhood can be summarized as follows:
- Convenience. It is absolutely natural for children to actively move, play, run, play sports – in a word, do not sit still. This style of behavior is not very well combined with the wearing of glasses: they fall, move out, they often have to be corrected, they must be constantly monitored. This gives a lot of inconveniences, while wear contact lenses, when worn correctly, eliminate all these inconveniences.
- Security. It is important to note that this clause is discussed precisely on the condition that the child observes all the rules of wearing. In such a situation, the lenses will be safer than glasses, which can break and injure someone with their fragments.
- Wide field of view. This is perhaps the most important advantage, because of which millions of people around the world refuse to score. Contact lenses provide a comfortable natural field of view: the same as if the person who wore them simply did not have myopia. In glasses, the field of view is strictly limited to the frame. This is important for adults, but especially for children, who, again, usually lead to a very lively lifestyle.
- Stealth. In fact, glasses can even become a kind of “highlight” of the image: they are actively used in many fashion shows, and their frames are sometimes distinguished by high style and elegance. But we, adults, understand this. For children, eyeglasses, in most cases, are a source of potential ridicule. Lenses, unlike them, are almost invisible and will allow the child to feel confident in the peer team.
At what age can children be allowed to wear contact lenses?
When determining the answer to this question, it is very important to consider whether the child himself wants to use this method of vision correction, or is it just a suggestion from his parents or an ophthalmologist. In some cases, wearing contact lenses for eyes is recommended even for babies, that is, it cannot be said that they are contraindicated in young patients. You can talk about the following basic principles of decision making:
- It is optimal to start wearing lenses for sight from the age of 14, for two main reasons. First, by this age, the development of the eyeball, including the cornea, is more or less completed. Finally, this process ends only at the age of 27-28 years; however, after reaching the age of about 14 years, the changes occur very slowly. The second reason is that only in adolescence children, as a rule, become responsible enough for proper wearing of contact lenses and proper regular care for them.
- Theoretically, you can buy them and a smaller child. But in this case, their correct selection along the radius of curvature will be especially important so that they do not have a negative impact on the development of the eyeball. In addition, at this age, wearing contact lenses should be a strong desire of the child, because only in this case it will be possible to more or less rely on his responsibility in caring for them.
What lenses to choose for a child?
All of them can be divided into two groups: one-day and longer wearing. Both options have their pros and cons. One-day options are the most hygienic and convenient but cost much more expensive. Long-wearing lenses (two weeks, a month) need to be treated every evening with a solution, put into a container, and in the morning get them, rinse the container with a clean solution and dry it.
Accordingly, you should assess whether your child is ready for the daily implementation of such actions. According to reviews, children who themselves wanted to wear lenses, and not glasses, could easily cope with such a task. But if you are not sure about this, it is better to prefer one-day options, since improper care may affect the health of the child’s eyes.
Thus, children can easily wear contact lenses: the main thing is only to properly consider the choice of their type and objectively assess the child’s readiness to provide them with proper care.
