CHILDREN & CONTACT LENSES

Before you get your child contact lenses, have you considered whether she is ready for them?
11 year old Chris Baker is quite the athlete, especially when it comes to skateboarding. But, his eyeglasses have thrown a monkey wrench into the mix.
“When I play baseball my glasses get in the way because I wear a batter’s helmet and it pushes my glasses off,” explains Chris Baker.

Before you get your child contact lenses, have you considered whether she is ready for them? 11 year old Chris Baker is quite the athlete, especially when it comes to skateboarding. But, his eyeglasses have thrown a monkey wrench into the mix. “When I play baseball my glasses get in the way because I wear a batter’s helmet and it pushes my glasses off,” explains Chris Baker.

Chris, who is near-sighted and has been wearing eye glasses since he’s 5 years old, began making the plea to his parents for contact lenses. “I thought they were cool because I wouldn’t have to worry about cleaning my glasses. I can just slip these in and it will be easier when I’m playing sports,” says Chris.

But according to ophthalmologist, Dr. Joseph Kubacki of Temple University Hospital, the decision of when to get your child contact lenses must be carefully evaluated. “You need to consider motivation and maturity. You can put a child in contact lenses but they have to be motivated to want to wear them, and take care of them and be responsible for them,” explains Dr. Kubacki.

Chris quickly learned that contact lenses take some work. “It was kind of hard to put them in. It took me a while to get them in easily and it seems a little different when you have them in. It takes a couple of minutes to get used to it, and sometimes they fall out of place,” he says.

Dr. Kubacki says that when getting children contact lenses, it’s crucial for them to understand that contact lenses are to be treated like a medical device, and that just like adults children who wear contact lenses face health risks like infection, allergic reactions, eye dryness and irritation. “Children who have contact lenses have to be able to care for them and insert and remove them. That’s why we take so much time in the beginning, instructing and training children who get contact lenses.”

Dr. Kubacki also cautions that having a vision problem doesn’t automatically mean you can get a child contact lenses, since not every child will be a good candidate for contact lenses. “Someone who is near-sighted or far-sighted in a normal range has a wide variety of lenses to choose from, but there are some cases where individuals have a significant amount of stigmatism or irregular curvature to the cornea that are difficult to fit with lenses,” he explains.

As for Chris, he’s adjusted to his lenses and is enjoying every bit of his new found freedom. “I can get my helmet on easily and stuff like that. When I’m running around my glasses don’t fly off and no one can break them,” says Chris.

Dr. Kubacki encourages all parents, in New York and other cities, who get their children contact lenses, to make sure their children’s eyes get a break from the lenses. He says children should switch to their glasses when they’re studying, doing homework and watching television. Crucially, parents should ensure that children with contact lenses never sleep with the lenses.