Contact Lenses
 
 
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Children & Lenses

With the advance in lens technology and the availability of disposable lenses it is now safe for children to wear contact lenses.
For many sports and activities wearing contact lenses is safer then wearing glasses, due to the risk of something knocking in to the glasses and potentially causing damage to the eyes.

Click on the questions to learn more about lenses for children

From What Age Can Children Wear Lenses?

Is It Safe For Children To Wear Lenses?

What Type Of Lenses Are Best For Children?




From What Age Can Children Wear Lenses?
There are no hard and fast rules. It depends on individual factors such as the child’s maturity, the size of their eyeballs and prescription. We have fitted children successfully from as young as eight.

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Is It Safe For Children To Wear Lenses?
Safety is our number one priority with all wearers, but in particular with children.

The main factors that used to be a barrier in allowing children to wear lenses successfully used to be:

Bullet the risk of infection – usually resulting from poor cleaning compliance

Bullet problems resulting from over wear – the lenses did not let sufficient oxygen to the eye during the wearing schedule.

Happily we can report that both of the above factors have been greatly reduced.

With the advent of disposable lenses the risk of infection is vastly lower as lenses are replaced more frequently. Daily disposable lenses in particular, are the ideal choice for children as they require no cleaning, and parents can be sure that a new fresh clean lens is put in every day.

Overwear problems also these days are greatly eliminated. Children can wear lenses full time - although we recommend they are mostly worn during essential times such as the school day hours. The new lens materials give much better oxygen transmission through the lens, making them safe even for children.

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What Type Of Lenses Are Best For Children?
Specific factors such as the prescription, shape and size of the eye, lifestyle and personality will decide which is the best lens type for each individual child.

As a general rule however, the best lenses are the ones that the child finds the easiest to insert and remove, look after and adapt to.
The following table summarises the main pros and cons of each type:
 
  SOFT GAS PERMEABLE
Adaptation Almost unaware of them from first insertion Can take a few days to get used to the sensation
Cleaning & Hygiene No cleaning necessary with daily disposables
Other disposable types require minimal daily cleaning		 The lenses are not replaced as frequently and so a few extra minutes cleaning is required to ensure deposits are removed 
Inserting & Removing Easier to remove Easier to insert as they are smaller
Sport & Strenuous Activities Wrap onto the surface of the eye so very unlikely to dislodge and fall out
 Float on the surface so possibly will fall out if sharp blinking occurs in response to something going in to the eye
Part Time Wear Soft better as no lens sensation to adapt to each time the lens is reinserted Because they’re harder takes a while to get used to the feel of them each time they’re reinserted
Vision Able to correct all prescription types, but may be a slight blur with some forms of astigmatism Very sharp vision. Fully corrects all types of astigmatism
Cost Lower initial outlay Initial cost higher, but annual cost about the same
Prescription Changes Any changes can be readily incorporated as required into the next supply, with no additional associated costs Rapidly changing prescriptions will require the purchase of new lenses each time, which can work out quite expensive
 
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