November 15, 2008
How Old Does My Child Have to be To Start Wearing Contact Lenses?
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I get this question constantly in my practice, and the short answer is; there is no minimum age. However, there are important factors that need to be considered:
What is the overall health of your child?
Is there a disease, or condition that can be exacerbated by wearing contact lenses? Chronic infections, both viral and bacterial, chronic allergies that affect the eyes, are some factors that would prohibit contact lens wear. A full medical history must be discussed with your eye care professional.
Are your child’s eyes healthy?
A thorough eye exam should be performed to rule out any conditions that would compromise eye health. Diseases of the cornea, or eyelids would be an example of such conditions.
How responsible is your child?
An irresponsible child is a recipe for disaster. It is essential that contact lenses be cleaned on a daily basis, and replaced every 2 weeks in the case of disposable contact lenses. The child must understand the seriousness of failing to comply with cleaning and caring procedures. Eye infections as a result of poor compliance can ultimately be disastrous, and could lead to blindness.
What is your child’s hygiene like?
The child’s hygiene must be evaluated, and discussed. A child with poor hygiene would not be a candidate for contacts.
Long term studies show that contact lens wear does not cause any significant damage to the eye, in most cases. As a result, there is no real defined minimal age for contact lens wear, rather it is based on multiple conditions that need to be meet, and understood.
Tags: Contact Lenses
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Great Post! This may apply to some adults as well. My children do not wear glasses but I used the new e-mail forward feature and sent to a couple of people I know who’s children wear contact lenses.
With three young children I found this post fascinating. At this point, none of them need glasses or contact lenses but both my wife and I wear corrective lenses. We both started needing them in our teen and college years.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to put contact lenses or having them put contact lenses in my kids eyes at their current ages. I might consider it at around 10 years old. Too hard right now. They’d squirm and complain too much.
Totally dependent on how fussy, active and tolerant your child is. I will say that as the children grow a but older contact lenses definitely help with confidence and allow the child to fit in with her/his peers at class and act as a confidence builder.
My friends oldest child is 9 years old and he is very responsible, it took a little bit of teaching him about the contact lenses, how to put them in,and how to care for them but now he is very happy with them and he never loses or breaks his frames anymore.
I cannot imagine contact lenses on a child under the age of say 12. This may just be a personal thing to me but I find it difficult understanding why chilren just cannot wear glasses (if they need them).
I find the idea strange… contact lenses for children??
Isn’t the whole purpose of contacts to improve your appearance? At what age is a child supposed to be worried how they appeal. Are there special contact lenses just for childen?
I wish I had contact lenses when I was in grammar school. I was constantly teased. It really brought down my self esteem. As I got older, more and more people my age needed glasses so I didn’t feel as isolated but man those early years were hard.
Dear Four Eyes, teaching your child how to deal with the adversity of being called four eyes is equally important as making him/her a supermodel with focus dailies or one of the other brands of contact lenses. Although if the child is mature enough and responsible as the writer stated in the post by all means let them wear contacts.
I am 33 (with two children now) and have been wearing contact lenses since the sixth grade. I remember getting my glasses in 3rd grade. 20+ years ago, eye doctors did not seem to think there was more of an age requirement. I agree with the post that it really depends far more on the maturity of the child. I am hopeful that neither of my children will need corrective lenses, but based upon family history it seems inevitable.
Nice bit of info. Always great to see different information especially when dealing with children.
I will refer this article to my cousin who has a child that may be a candidate for contact lenses.
Most kids, in my opinion, shouldn’t be wearing contact lenses until they’re old enough to not only spell acuvue or bausch and lomb, but to change them regularly.
I think that is imformation that Adults that have kids with glasses should read. I think that becuase most parents think kids are to young to have contacts. I think if the kids are old enough to have cell phones they can have contacts.
Thak You,
Sharita
if any replys please fill free to contact me at sharitakassim@yahoo.com
This is great info. I have a daughter who is almost 9 years old and has worn glasses since she was 5 MONTHS old; she has been wearing glasses for 8 & 1/2 years of her life. She was just fitted for contact lenses on Saturday, not for vanity reasons, but so she can see better and have more freedom. From the moment she wakes up until she falls asleep at night, she needs corrective lenses. I am so excited for her and she has shown herself to be ready and responsible enough for the task. She is motivated and even during the fitting, she could see better with one contact lenses (not even her correct RX) than with her normal glasses. Since she has accommodative esotropia, glasses and contact lenses will always be a part of her life. I feel that her contact lenses will improve her vision even more and all parents she get to experience the joy of giving their child better sight….the smile on her face when she looked at me during the fitting was priceless!
Both of my sons play baseball and both require corrective lenses. As catchers, glasses are not practical. My 12 year old has been wearing them since he was 10. He has slight astigmatism and only really requires them while he is playing. My 9 year old is begging for them. I have an appointment for him next week. He currently has goggles, but those are now scratched and ruined. I agree, it depends on how responsible the child is.
What fantastic information. Unfortunately my 8 year old
has just been given his first pair of glasses. He has gone
from being a beautiful, carefree, sporty little boy to one who finds it hard to look people in the face because he feels
so self-conscious. As soon as I feel he is old enough to deal with contact lenses I shall take him to be assessed. If technology is there to help us, why shouldnt we use it?!
I am 12 years of age and have began looking into getting contact lenses. I have been wearing glasses since I was 7 or 8 and even though you can get cool, fashionable frames for your glasses I feel like a change. Also, for anyone who plays sport it is very annoying when your specs get in the way! Lynne, you can tell your son that glasses are not that bad. When I first got them I was very self conscious. But now I know that loads of other kids and teens have glasses and found it ok. I do plan to get LASIX done when I’m older but that probably won’t be for a few years.
i agree children should be able to choose, i have just been told by my 8yr old girl that she is being bullyed because of her glasses, i didnt know she could have contacts untill now. and i will be getting her some. she has worn glasses since she was 4 and as been told she probally will forever, so when she is happy with how she looks so will i be!!! i would say keep the child in glasses unless they are unhappy, there are some nasty children out there.
I have a 10 yr old son that is cross eyed and needs to wear glasses, he is so upset about it. He wants contacts but Im so scared to get them for him. Are their special lenses for children ?
Jenn - all contact lenses are specifically fitted for the individual, so your son would get the perfect fit for himself. As you probably know, there are several different kinds of contact lenses, including a kind called extended wear, which can be left in for either a week or up to a month, depending on the type.
I would think that if the eye doctor thinks those are a good match for your son’s eyes, they might be a good option, because your wouldn’t have to deal with them daily.
All this is speculation - my 10 year old is asking for contacts, too, and that’s how I ended up on this page…doing a little research
Hi I’m 11 years old. I wear glasses and now my dentist is saying I need braces. I’m scared people will tease me cause
I’m wearing glasses and I’m getting braces. I have one question: I’m 11 years old am I to youn to get contacts? I hope that I’m not to young…
Hi Ny
Yes, chances are you can if you are responsible.My daughter was in the same situation but fortunately the braces nowadays are quite cool, and she was OK with glasses and braces. She now has is 15 with beautiful straight teeth and contacts also so everything will be fine in the end!
Hi Ny.
I am also 11 years old and wear glasses! I’m so so thankful that I found someone my age who has the same question and feels the same way as me. I went to the dentist and he said that I will probaly need braces! I think I will be needing braces because if you just look at my teeth, the two one the top sides look like vanpire teeth and they are taking FOREVER to be down!!! i already lost ALL of my teeth so that only means one thing…; I’m GETTING BRACES!!!!
So anyways, I wear glasses and people have been calling me a nerd or judging me just because I wear glasses! I have been wearing glasses since I was 8 years old and I have to wear them all the time for the whole day!Well I don’t like wearing glasses and want to get contacts. I told my mom and she said that she doesn’t think I’m old enough. I told her that I saw this on the internet that age doesn’t matter and that it’s about how responsible you are and if you can care for your contacts. She still said no, and said that I have to be older.
Now I don’t know what to do!!!!!! I’m going to the dentist in April and really want contacts!!! I have read all the coments on this page and articles on the site!!! So I think I’m ready for contact lenses!!!
I dn’t want to be teased by my class mates anymore!!! I’m like every other person who wears glasses! Just an ordinary girl with brown medium hair and brown hazel eyes!
I need help from someone and I would really appreciate it.
Vicky
hi im britt and im 10 yrs old and im just wanted to know at my age could i wear contacts. cause i have been judge by the way i look and i think it was time 4 me to wear contacts.
hi im bak its britt and im 10 yrs old i jus ask my mom am i responsibale and she said sometimes so am i able to wear contacts
ny and vicki, i am almost thirteen and i had glasses and braces. It is not that bad and you will get used to yourself. there are many different colors that you can get on your braces and choosing can be fun. You will be fine and no one made fun of me and if they do, who cares. I got my braces off now and i am getting contacts
It’s not just about “looks” or self-esteem. My daughter is extremely active & plays sports. As a result, her glasses often end up bent or damaged and wearing a batting helmet is extremely uncomfortable because of them. She is only 8, and not quite ready for contacts yet, but I would consider it at a younger age than I would have previously thought.
I totally agree with you Beth. My son is 10 and wearing glasses is a constant issue for him. He can’t wear them during wrestling, so he can’t see during practice and at matches. He has to be much more careful on the playground because the glasses fall off, get scratched, bent, broken. Two years ago, he went through 4 frames because they kept breaking at the temple.
I wear glasses (and contacts) too. Wearing contacts is so much easier, not to mention that my glasses essentially block peripheral vision. The contacts I wore in high school were uncomfortable and took much getting used to. Now they’re made to feel so comfortable AND they have UV protection, I feel like there’s almost no reason not to get contacts on son’s next visit (next week).