Contact Lenses for Teens

Teenagers (and the parents who love them) often ask us about switching from eyeglasses to contact lenses. Whether the change is permanent or just an alternative to glasses, there are several great reasons for getting your teen into prescription contacts.

• Freedom: Your teen may simply be tired of wearing eyeglasses, especially thick frames that slip and slide down the bridge of his or her nose.
• Sports: Glasses don’t mix well with active sports. They can fall off. Even worse, they can break, leading to injury. Repairing or replacing broken glasses is also costly. And glasses don’t provide the peripheral vision needed during game play. The good news is that quality contact lenses solve those problems. They make it easier to wear protective goggles, too.
• Glasses-free look: Remember your teen years? Were they awkward or smooth sailing? Maybe a mix of both! In any case, your teen may simply prefer the way he or she looks and feels without glasses.
• Eye color change: Today’s natural–looking color contacts are very popular among teens. And they’re safe–so long as they’re prescribed by an eye care professional.

Talking About Contacts With Your Teen: Important Topics

 

Contacts are medical devices. Did you know that contact lenses are considered medical devices? It’s easy to understand why. The eyes are one of the body’s most important and delicate parts. That’s why what we put in and on them must be medically safe and properly fitted by an eye care professional.

Wash your hands before handling and inserting your contact lenses. Your eyes are one of your immune system’s most vulnerable points. To help keep germs away and protect your vision, follow the hand washing instructions from your eye care professional.

Handle your lenses with care. Contact lenses can tear. Never wear torn contact lenses. They can scratch your eyes leading to infection and other possible vision problems.

Consider daily disposable contacts. Clean contact lenses are key to helping keep your eyes healthy. Daily disposable lenses or “dailies” are worn for the day and thrown away before going to sleep. They offer several benefits:

• No nighttime lens cleaning required, saving time and cleaning solution. (Particularly beneficial for teens that may forget to clean their contacts or ignore the process.)
• An easy–to–remember wear schedule.
• They can help people with eye allergies. Starting every day with a fresh pair of lenses means there’s less time for allergies to flair and deposits to build up.
• They offer a self–esteem boost in helping teens succeed with their new responsibility.

Don’t share your contacts–ever! Your contact lenses are fitted and prescribed just for your eyes. Sharing contact lenses can encourage an eye infection and other vision problems.

A special caution about novelty contact lenses (such as those often worn for Halloween costume effects). Like color contacts, novelty contact lenses are popular, but as we mentioned earlier, it’s essential to have contact lenses of any kind properly fitted by an eye care professional. In fact, some lenses may not be FDA approved unless they’re purchased from a licensed professional. Wearing contacts that aren’t fitted and prescribed by a professional could harm your teen’s eyes.

If you’d like to schedule an appointment to fit your teen for contacts, or to learn more about them, please give us a call.

Nothing in this article is to be construed as medical advice, nor is it intended to replace the recommendations of a medical professional. For specific questions, please contact our office.

Adapted with permission from: Contact Lenses for Teenagers CooperVision.com.