How Old Does My Child Have To Be To Wear Contact Lenses?
- By Germaine Shock
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- 06 Jul, 2017
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Age Vs. Maturity
Why Contacts?
So now that you have at least some guidance on the “when” regarding your kiddo and contacts, let’s take a look at a couple of the “whys” and eventually the “hows”.
Appearance
There are typically two main motivating factors parents and kids will consider when wanting to make the switch from glasses to contact lenses. The first is probably the most obvious - appearance. This is especially the case with pre-teens and teenagers who are at the age where appearance starts to matter more. Also, if a child has a prescription that is particularly high, contact lenses will eliminate the issue of having to wear heavy or thick glasses.
Contacts & Sports
The second most common reason for wanting to try contacts is the convenience when it comes to playing sports. There are actually quite a few benefits that come with making the switch:
- More comfortable use of helmets and safety gear
- Less risk for additional injury caused by broken frames
- Improved field of vision especially in the periphery resulting in faster reaction times
- No risk of glasses slipping down or falling off
- No distorted vision caused by fogging or splattering when playing in the rain, fog, or cold
Daily or Monthly Replacement?
Although contacts vary on how often they need to be replaced with a new pair (monthly, bi-weekly, etc), the most healthy and frequently recommended lenses are dailies. These are especially great for kids because they have very little upkeep. They will not have to worry about cleaning the lenses or storing them, instead they will simply throw them away at the end of the day and replace them with a brand new pair the next morning. Having a fresh set of lenses on the eyes each day will also lower your child’s risk for developing a contact lens related infection.
How To Get Started & What To Expect
If your child has had an eye exam in the last few months, you should be able to call your optometrist’s office to make them an appointment specifically to be fitted for contacts (this might vary from office to office so you’ll want to check to make sure). Your doctor might want to take a few quick measurements including something called Keratometry which measures how flat or steep the front curvature of the eye is. This information is helpful when determining what size of contacts are needed.
Typically most doctors will let these lenses be worn in the real world for about a week in order for the patient (in this case your kiddo) to practice with insertion and removal and to get a good feel for whether or not they will meet their visual needs. At the follow up visit make sure your child is wearing his or her contacts to the appointment for a final assessment of the lenses and to make any minor adjustments to prescription or fit if needed. When everything is finalized you will be approved to order an annual supply of the contact lenses.
Warning Signs & Backup Glasses
Eye-Q
More than likely if you are reading this, you’ve experienced the strange sensation of an eyelid twitch. It can happen anywhere, at any time, and almost always stops the moment you try to point it out to someone else (and of course resumes the second they turn away just to make you look extra crazy). Well you aren’t crazy - at least in this case - eyelid twitches are a real thing!
Myo-what?
Better known in professional lingo as “myokymia”, this twitching sensation is the result of involuntary, spontaneous, rippling muscle contractions. These spasms can actually occur in almost any of the muscles in your body. When relating to the eyelids, myokymia is most common in your lower lids but can happen in your top lids as well.
Eyelid myokymia is typically very temporary. The twitching will usually only last for a few minutes, but in some rare cases can last for a few days or even weeks.
Your doctor will likely advise you that there is no cause for concern as common Myokymia resolves on its own without the need for treatment. Other than causing mild annoyance, the eyelid twitching shouldn’t cause any long term complications or interference with your vision.Do your eyes ever feel dry and itchy? Do you ever experience eye fatigue, redness, blurred vision, or excessive watering? You could be suffering from dry eyes - especially if you live in Oklahoma City which ranks as the 17th driest city in the U.S. And despite the name, dry eye isn’t just an annoying feeling - it’s a legitimate chronic eye disease that affects an estimated 4.88 million Americans over the age of 50 alone. And since another estimated 89% of the population have never even heard of Dry Eye Syndrome, it’s easy to see why some would just write off those annoying symptoms as a normal part of their lives.
In honor of Mother’s Day kicking off Women’s Week, the Eye- Q blog has decided to dedicate a post solely to women’s eye health related issues. So what makes women’s eye health so special? Women are actually more commonly affected than men by a number of ocular health issues including dryness, cataracts, age related macular degeneration, and complications from autoimmune disorders such as Sjogren's or lupus. Furthermore, according to Prevent Blindness America, 66% of people who are blind or visually impaired are women.
Let’s start with that statistic - why are women more at risk for eye complications than men?No, it’s not a typo. Sjogren’s - pronounced show-grins - is a type of autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation and damage to various parts of the body; most commonly the tear and saliva glands. This damage results in symptoms ranging from dryness and discomfort to difficulty swallowing and can even affect the lungs and kidneys.
So why exactly does this happen? Let’s start with a quick health lesson. The immune system is responsible for fighting disease and killing harmful viruses and bacteria. However, with autoimmune diseases, your immune system has a hard time knowing when to stop fighting and mistakenly attacks your own body. With Sjogren’s, your exocrine glands - the glands that secrete moisture such as saliva, sweat, tears, breast-milk, gastric mucous, etc - become the main targets.So it’s the weekend and the mild discomfort you were experiencing midweek has now escalated into full blown intense pain. Or maybe you were working on the yard and something flew into your eye? Or perhaps you were wearing your contact lenses for too long and your eye is now extremely red and unhappy. Who do you call? (I’ll give you a hint, it’s not Ghostbusters.) But seriously, should you go to the ER if you injure your eye in some way? The answer might surprise you.
