Contact lenses are a great alternative to glasses for children who have trouble seeing clearly. Children who participate in a lot of sports and particularly competitive athletics will benefit greatly from contact lenses. The reason being because if they were to wear their glasses while playing sports, they're more prone to break or they can fall off of their face and distort their peripheral vision, whereas contact lenses do not present any of those problems. Kids may not always feel comfortable wearing their glasses simply because they feel insecure, but we still want them to be able to see clearly, so it may be beneficial for them to have an alternative option such as wearing contact lenses.
Contact lenses for anisometropia
Anisometropia is a refractive condition where the prescriptions are different in each eye. It is estimated that 3% of children have this refractive condition. Contacts may be a better choice for children than glasses if their prescription is stronger in one eye compared to the other. The thicker frame would be heavier and would fall more to one side. Wearing contact lenses would eliminate this issue.
Contact lenses for myopia
There are specialty contact lenses that can help children slow down their myopia progression. Nearsightedness, or myopia, is a condition in which a person is unable to see clearly far away. One of the reasons why myopia has become such an issue nowadays is because not only does a person's quality of life really deteriorate as their minus prescription increases, but it also puts them at a much higher risk of developing eye conditions later in life that can really distort their vision. Specialty soft contacts and overnight wear contacts for myopia are extremely effective at slowing down the progression of childhood myopia which greatly reduces the risk of eye disease later in life.
Contact lenses care
While contact lenses can be amazing and beneficial for a patient, it is also important that the patient has a certain level of maturity and responsibility. The reason is that if a patient is not responsible with their contact lenses, and they're not so hygienic, they are more likely to abuse both the way they wear their contact lenses, as well as the way they handle and clean them, putting them at a higher risk of getting an eye infection and potentially affecting their vision. Doctors consider certain patients for contact lenses only if they have a certain level of maturity and responsibility. Dr. Pinkhasov has found that her younger patients around the age of 8 to 10 do better at listening and are less likely to get eye infections than her older patients who are in their teen years, indicating it's not just the age that matters, but the maturity and responsibility of the child. Additionally, it's really important for the parents to be responsible for watching over their children and making sure their contact lenses are handled properly and they're not excessively wearing them and removing them when they're not supposed to.
