Parents often ask me if their child is old enough to wear contact lenses. Instead of looking at the child's age, I tend to focus on the maturity level of the child. Wearing contact lenses requires a lot of responsibility, but some young kids seem to handle responsibility amazingly well.
A recent study shows that wearing contact lenses, as opposed to glasses, significantly improves how children and teenagers feel about their appearance and participation in activities. "Children as young as eight years old who need vision correction are as capable as teenagers at wearing and caring for soft contact lenses and should be presented with the option of contact lens wear when vision correction is required," says Jeffrey J. Walline, O.D., Ph.D., from the Ohio State University College of Optometry. The study shows that wearing contact lenses instead of glasses benefits quality of life for children, which leads to greater satisfaction with their vision correction.
If your child feels uneasy about wearing glasses, it may be time to explore the option of wearing contact lenses.
Suggested Reading:
Source: Johnson & Johnson, Contact Lens Wear Improves How Children And Teens Feel About Their Appearance, Participation In Activities, Clinical Study Shows. Medical News Today, 19 Nov 2007.
Photo © National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health.
