3 signs that your child is ready to wear contact lenses

As a parent, sometimes it’s hard to know when your child is ready to take the next step. Whether it’s letting them wear makeup or walk alone to a friend’s house, everyone is doing their best to make the right decisions at the right time. And when it has to do with inserting an object into your child’s eyes, the decision is understandably all the more difficult. In many cases, your Opto-Réseau eye care professional may recommend that your child wear contact lenses. Here are some signs that your child may be ready, regardless of age.

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Your child is into sports

If your child is keen on sports, you’ve probably had to replace emergency glasses in the past because of a ball in the face. In addition to the inconvenience of having to get a new pair of glasses, there’s a real danger in playing sports with glasses. A number of sports associations recommend kids wear protective eyewear over their glasses, which is understandably uncomfortable.

Wearing contact lenses gives sporty kids the freedom to enjoy their favourite activities safely and comfortably. 

Your child doesn’t like wearing glasses

Even if your child has picked out cool frames and the glasses look great, they may not like wearing them. They should be re-fitted regularly so they don’t slip on the nose or cause discomfort behind the ears. Kids with stronger prescriptions may also have poorer peripheral vision with glasses than with contact lenses.

Whatever the reason, if your child doesn’t like wearing glasses, they likely won’t wear them often enough, which can be detrimental to their learning and long-term quality of life. The important thing is to find the solution that best suits them and corrects their vision without discomfort. This may mean getting contact lenses.

Pro tip: Even if your child wears contact lenses, keep their glasses handy. They could use them at any old time, like to get up at night to go to the bathroom!

Your child’s glasses fog up

We can already hear you telling us that they just need to be washed! It’s definitely best to have clean glasses, but for the past few months, people who wear glasses have been facing a new challenge: the fog that forms on their glasses when they wear a mask. Managing a mask and disinfectant in addition to glasses can be a daily challenge for some kids. Not to mention the fog that builds up on their glasses when they wear a mask! If they’re complaining about dealing with all this and seem ready to switch to contact lenses, this may be an ideal option for them. 

A few tips to help you help them

It’s no secret that wearing contact lenses is a big responsibility. They’re foreign objects placed on the eyes and involve some calculated risks. With proper handling and a few easy-to-follow instructions, contact lenses are a breeze to use.

1. Practice bringing your finger close to the eye. Putting something in your eye can be scary, so start with the first step: approaching the eye without blinking. Trim your nails, wash your hands thoroughly, sit down with your child in front of a mirror, and show them how to pull their lower eyelid down slightly to gently bring their finger towards their eye, trying not to blink. This will make it easier for the optometrist to manipulate their eyelids during their visit and decrease the blinking reflex when the contact lens is close to their eyes.

2. Get involved in learning. Learning to wear contact lenses takes patience and dedication. It’s a whole new routine that becomes part of your child’s everyday life. Learn how to handle lenses, clean them, and put them away at night along with your child. For easier care, ask your optometrist about daily wear contact lenses such as Acuvue Oasys 1-Day or Acuvue Moist 1-Day.

3. Stick with it. Your child may have trouble getting used to their new lenses or the routine that accompanies them. Give them time to learn this new habit, even if it means alternating between glasses and contact lenses depending on their activities.

>> See our guide for contact lens wearers

Think contact lenses would be a good solution for your child? Talk to your Opto-Réseau eye care professional at the clinic nearest you. Most importantly, take the time to talk to your child about their needs and the options available to correct their vision.