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Are Contact Lenses a Good Choice for Kids?

Physically, your child’s eyes can tolerate contact lenses at a very young age. Some babies are fitted with contact lenses due to eye conditions present at birth. And in a recent study that involved fitting nearsighted children of ages 8-11 with one-day disposable contact lenses, 90% had no trouble applying or removing the contacts without assistance from their parents.

A matter of maturity

So the important question is whether or not your child is mature enough to insert, remove and take care of their contact lenses. How they handle other responsibilities at home will give you a clue. If your child has poor grooming habits and needs frequent reminders to perform everyday chores, they may not be ready for the responsibility of wearing and caring for contact lenses. But if they are conscientious and handle these things well, they may be excellent candidates for contact lens wear, regardless of their age.

Contact lenses for sports

Many kids are active in sports. Contact lenses offer several advantages over glasses for these activities. Contacts don’t fog up, get streaked with perspiration or get knocked off like glasses can. They also provide better peripheral vision than glasses, which is important for nearly every sport. There are even contact lenses with special tints to help your child see the ball easier.

For sports, soft contact lenses are usually the best choice. They are larger and fit closer to the eye than rigid gas permeable (GP) lenses, so there’s virtually no chance they will dislodge or get knocked off during competition.

Controlling nearsightedness

If your young son or daughter is nearsighted, rigid gas permeable (GP) contacts may be the best choice. In some cases, GP contact lenses may slow the progression of myopia in children. (Soft lenses don’t offer this potential benefit.) Also, GP lenses are more durable and often provide sharper vision than soft contacts.

Building self-esteem with contact lenses

Contact lenses can do wonders for some children’s self-esteem. Many kids don’t like the way they look in glasses and become overly self-conscious about their appearance because of them. Wearing contact lenses can often elevate how they feel about themselves and improve their self confidence. Sometimes, even their school performance and participation in social activities improves after they switch to contact lenses.

Glasses are still required

If your child chooses to wear contact lenses, they still need an up-to-date pair of eyeglasses. Contact lenses worn on a daily basis should be removed at least an hour before bedtime to allow the eyes to “breathe.” Also, there will be times when your child may want to wear their glasses instead of contact lenses. And contact lenses should be removed immediately any time they cause discomfort or eye redness.

Don’t push contacts on your kids

Motivation is often the most important factor in determining whether your son or daughter will be a successful contact lens wearer. If you wear contact lenses yourself and love them, that still doesn’t mean they are the right choice for your child. Some children like wearing glasses and have no desire wear contact lenses.

We can usually tell at your child’s contact lens consultation if they really want to wear contact lenses. If it appears that they would rather stay in glasses, we will certainly respect their decision – and you should, too.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing. Often, a child may feel they don’t want contacts, but a year or two later, they do. There’s always time to make that decision.

When your child is ready to try contacts

When you and your child agree it’s time for contacts, call our office to schedule a contact lens consultation. We welcome the opportunity to help kids of all ages enjoy wearing contact lenses.

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COVID-19 UPDATES

In an effort to further protect our patients and staff, we are taking the following precautions at our office:

When you arrive in the office for your appointment:

  1. The door will remain locked and open only for patients that have been initially screened
  2. Careful Screening: All persons entering the office will be screened for symptoms of COVID-19 by 1) being asked a series of screening questions and 2) their temperature will be taken before entering the office. If the patient’s temperature is greater or equal to 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C), that person will be denied entrance and asked to see their primary care physician.
  3. No additional family, friends, etc will be allowed to accompany the patient into the office
    1. *Exception: children and others requiring assistance – 1 single parent or accompanied guardian allowed
  4. We ask that you please wear cloth or medical MASKS when entering our office. A mask will be required for entry through the door.
  5. We will be implementing a *$50 “No Show Fee”* for no shows or cancellations if we are not notified at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment.

Safety and Sanitation Precautions:

  • Physical/Social Distancing: 6+ feet separations will be maintained whenever possible during the encounter while in the office
  • Regular Sanitation: All door handles, surfaces in exam rooms and common areas, restrooms, and medical equipment (as always) will be regularly sanitized after any contact. Surfaces will be wiped down with sanitizing mixture or at least 70% isopropyl alcohol or bleach wipes. Sanitizers are also being used rigorously on hands, surfaces, phones, computer keyboard/mouse etc between use.
  • Hand Washing and Glove Use: All doctors and staff will be using gloves and will be washing hands in compliance with the CDC using warm water and anti-microbial soap before coming into contact with any patient.
  • Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): We have secured masks for all our team and are asking all persons in the office to wear a face-mask at all times. Patients that are coming in for care will be asked to please bring/wear a mask for entry into our office.

 

  • *No Touch Delivery – Picking Up Eyewear and Contact Lenses*: We will be offering curbside pick up of all glasses, eyewear and contact lenses. We will pre-adjust glasses so that the frames are balanced and even. We are not offering customized fitting at this time (see below, Frame Adjustments). Please call the office when you arrive at the office to pick up your eyewear and a staff member will bring your eyewear or contact lenses to the front door.

 

Frame Selections, Adjustments, Repairs and Dispensing:

  • Frame Selections – Reduced Touching: During selection of eyewear frames, only staff will be allowed to remove sanitized frames from the display. All frames will be sanitized before being replaced back onto the frame board. Opticians will hand the frame to the patient and patient will put them on. All frame selections and adjustments will be done with gloved hands.
  • Sanitization of Frames: All frames that are tried on by patients will be put into the ultra-violet (UV-C) sanitizer tray and run for 1-2 minutes.
  • Frame Adjustments: We will be postponing any eyewear/glasses adjustments at this time due to the close proximity and physical contact needed for that service.
  • Frame Repairs: We can repair glasses that have been significantly bent or broken (if possible to fix).

 

Although there may be some changes to your normal visit to our office, we assure you that we are doing our best to follow all CDC, California Department of Public Health, California Optometric Association and local public health guidelines to keep our patients, staff and community safe without compromising our standard of excellence and quality during this time.

We ask that you all are mindful of the following precautions. We are all in this together. We look forward to SEEing you all soon!

 

Doctors Ideta, Mukai, Yamamoto and the Aloha Family Optometric Team