Should Your Child Get Contact Lenses?

If it has been decided by an optometrist that your child needs corrective lenses, your child may have asked you for contact lenses. Children often think they are going to be picked on for wearing glasses, or they just don't like the idea of wearing them. With more children and people in general wearing glasses these days, your child may not endure any bullying over their glasses, but they may not realize this. If you are considering whether or not contact lenses are a good choice for your child, you want to ask yourself the following questions:

Is your child responsible enough for contacts?

Each child will mature at their own pace. Some children may have no problem taking care of their contacts at a young age, such as 8 years old. However, other children may not be responsible enough until they are in their teens. Ask yourself if you can see them taking good care of their lenses, rinsing them, properly storing them and taking them out when they are supposed to.

Is your child in sports?

If your child is involved in sports, it may be a lot easier for them to enjoy while wearing contact lenses. They will still be able to see clearly while wearing any necessary headgear and not having the gear bumping up against their glasses. Also, they won't have to worry about having their glasses fall off or get broken while they are involved in the activity or game. Your child will also have better peripheral vision with contact lenses than they would in glasses, which can help improve their performance.

Does your insurance cover contacts?

If your insurance policy does not cover contact lenses, you will have to pay for them out-of-pocket. Hence, you should make sure to double check whether getting contact lenses for your child is financially feasible, or whether it would be a more reasonable choice just to go with glasses.

Other things to think about

You still want to purchase your child glasses, even if they are going to be wearing contacts most of the time. Having glasses allows their eyes to have a break from the contacts and are good to have in case something happens to their contact lenses. If you go with contacts, make sure you order extras ad make sure your child is well-versed on keeping the lenses moist and taking them out if they start to irritate their eyes. Click for more info.


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