Introduction
Contact lenses are convenient and easy to handle, but they can also lead to some eye-related complications if they are not handled with care. Moreover, it can become even riskier for kids since they may ignore the hygienic habits related to contact lenses. Therefore, parents often ask the correct age for wearing contact lenses? At what age can their kids wear contact lenses? Well, if you are one of those parents, then you are at the right place.
In this blog, we will discuss the basics of contact lenses, including what contact lenses are, their types, and their benefits. Along with this, we will also discuss the right age for contact lenses.
What Are Contact Lenses?
Contact lenses are thin and curved lenses that are placed on the tear film which covers the cornea of the front transparent curved surface of the eyeball. The contact lens is naturally clear, but it is often given the slightest tinge of color to make them easy to recognize and handle.
Usually, contact lenses are worn for vision correction, but today they are also used for cosmetic purposes. People use colored contact lenses to enhance or change the hue of their eyes. Now, let’s go through a few of the most common types of contact lenses: –
Soft contact lenses
These are made up of soft and flexible plastic, which enables oxygen to pass through the cornea. In addition, soft contact lenses are more comfortable and easier to adjust than the other kind of contact lenses – the RGP or rigid gas permeable lenses. Soft Contact lenses can correct the majority of the vision defects for young children and adults, like myopia (minus power or shortsightedness), hyperopia (hypermetropia, plus power or longsightedness) as well as astigmatism (axis or cylindrical, cylinder power). Disposable soft contact lenses have made contact lens hygiene and caring easy and hassle-free for young children.
Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses
Rigid gas permeable lenses are more durable. In addition to this, these are also comparatively more resistant to deposit build-up and provide a clear and crisp vision. Moreover, these contact lenses are more affordable than soft contact lenses, but they are not as comfortable as soft contact lenses. Due to the comfort factor, it takes a few weeks to adapt to these lenses and is preferred only in extreme cases of an irregular cornea or corneal disease like keratoconus, etc.
Extended wear contact lenses
Extended wear contact lenses are suitable to wear for a long period. You can wear these lenses for up to six nights and seven days. These are made up of flexible plastics that enable oxygen to pass through the cornea. However, considering the higher risk of infection in this kind of extended wear lenses, these are not recommended by most experienced contact lens specialists.
Disposable Contact Lenses
Disposable usually soft contact lenses are changed at regular intervals; usually one month, fifteen days (fortnightly), or one day from the date of opening a sealed (usually a vial or blister) pack of lenses. Once the prescribed duration from the date of opening the sealed lenses is passed, these lenses are discarded and a new pair of lenses is used. Because these lenses are frequently changed, it makes lens care easier and reduces the potential complications like allergy and infection to a great extent. Such Soft contact lenses are also referred to as “ frequent or planned replacement lenses.
Can Kids Wear Contact Lenses?
Yes, it is entirely safe for kids to wear lenses. Moreover, even infants are fitted with contact lenses to overcome specific eye conditions like after they have been operated on for congenital cataracts or for congenital nystagmus in some special cases. Hence, children can wear lenses as early as infancy although, in the early years, parents must take care of the lenses. However, by 8-9 years most children learn to handle lenses properly. After that parents only need to oversee and enforce hygienic habits, daily cleaning, and changing solutions for the lenses.
If your child has spectacles and you feel that the child feels restricted in pursuing sports, extracurricular activities or feels less confident than peers due to spectacles, lenses can do a world of good to the child’s confidence and performance at school sports and in social interactions.
At What Age Can Children Start Wearing Contacts?
There is no minimum or recommended age for wearing contact lenses for children. However, it is still important to consider whether it is appropriate for your kids to wear lenses or not. To decide whether your child is ready to wear or handle contact lenses, you should consider their unique traits. Please go through the below tips to evaluate whether your child is ready for lenses or not.
- You should check whether your child is responsible enough to take care of the contact lenses.
- Does your eye care professional recommend contacts lenses for your child?
- You should check whether the children complete their daily chores without reminding them? Or do they learn instructions well? In addition, you should also think if your child can learn how to insert or remove the contact lenses properly.
- Another important point you should consider is if your child needs lenses. For instance, you should consider if they need contact lenses to perform better in sports or other activities? However, if the concern for wearing lenses is completely cosmetic, you should be aware of the underlying issues of wearing contact lenses.
When Should You Not Wear Contact Lenses?
You should not overwear your contact lenses because wearing contact lenses for an extended period or overnight can damage the eyes. In addition to this, you should not wear contact lenses if you are suffering from eye conditions such as allergies or infection. If they have dry eyes, then a contact lens specialist may need to advise lubricating drops. In case of cold, high fever, flu, one should discontinue contact lenses and resume only when the symptoms are gone.
Benefits of Using Contact Lenses
In this section of the blog, we will discuss the most common benefits of wearing contact lenses: –
1. Improved Viewing Ease
Most of the contact lenses are designed to correct refractive errors. Therefore, contact lenses are a great choice for those diagnosed with refractive errors such as astigmatism, farsightedness, or near-sightedness. However, one should start using contact lenses only after consulting with a trusted optometrist.
2. Wider visual access
Contact lenses are directly placed on the eye’s cornea, giving you unrestricted central and peripheral visual access. Moreover, contact lenses move with your eye and give you a natural field of view, and do not have any frames to obstruct your vision. In addition to this, contact lenses also reduce image distortions and glare reflections.
3. Does not fog up
Unlike eyeglasses, contact lenses are not usually affect by the weather conditions and do not fog up in winters.
4. Normal vision
Since contact lenses are securely place directly on your eyes, you get to enjoy a feeling of normalcy while wearing contact lenses. Also, the magnification of high plus power spectacles or the minification of high minus power spectacles is greatly reduce in contact lenses. So, a child sees things in their most natural way possible. In addition to this, fog, steam, water splashes, or other factors will not obstruct your vision like eyeglasses.
5. Better eye comfort
Due to technological advancements, now contact lenses are available in different materials. Moreover, contact lenses made from specific materials also maintain your eye health and comfort with better vision.
6. Other perks
Another great advantage of contact lenses is that they are available in different varieties and colors. Therefore, it allows you to see how you look with different eye colors. But the biggest benefit of contact lenses observe is the add confidence in a child who feels embarrass or is often tease for wearing high-power glasses. Also, the freedom to pursue extracurricular activities like dancing, and sports where glasses can be a hindrance is a huge advantage.
Conclusion
We hope that the information given in this blog will help you decide the correct age for wearing contact lenses and whether your child is ready to wear contact lenses or not if you looking for an authentic shop to buy contact lenses then R kumar sunglasses store will be the best option to buy from. In addition to this, we have also discussed the most common types of contact lenses and their uses through which you can decide which contact lens is suitable for you or your kid.