Children are often unaware of their eyesight problems. Thus, it is important to carry out annual checkups that allow these vision abnormalities to be detected in time and to be resolved, especially if the child has headaches, shows disinterest, confuses letters, gets closer to the books, follows the lines while reading with his fingers or blinks in the usual way. If your child has a refraction problem, glasses will be prescribed. This can sometimes be a source of confusion and doubts on the part of parents about which glasses are the most suitable for their children, the characteristics they should have, the appearance of the frame or the most suitable type of lens.
Here are 5 tips to take into account while getting glasses for your children.
1. It is important to choose a frame that is the right size The frame must adapt to the child's face and perfectly cover his field of vision. The glasses cannot be wider than the face and must not exceed the eyebrows. It is therefore not advisable to buy larger glasses thinking that they will serve him longer. It should also be taken into account that the central part of the glasses must coincide with the center of the pupil
.
2. The material used for the frame must be light, comfortable and safe The choice of material largely depends on the age of the child. In this sense, silicone frames are more recommended for babies or children under 5 or 6 years old, since they are lighter as well as more resistant to twisting and breaking. From the age of 6, materials such as acetate can be used, for example, a resistant material that also better conceals the thickness of the glass.
3. The bridge of the glasses must be placed correctly on the nose The bridge of the glasses, that is to say the arc which separates the two glasses, must be correctly placed on the nose. At these ages, children do not yet have a well-defined bridge of the nose, so some glasses could slip and/or sit low causing them to look over the glasses (which is bad and can cause problems) In this sense, it is therefore recommended to go for glasses with a low bridge, or in the case of babies, with an inverted bridge.
4. The length of the branches must adapt to each one If we want the glasses to be comfortable for children, the temples must be adaptable, flexible, of a length adapted to their anatomy and have soft ends, if possible. This will prevent the glasses from leaving marks or putting pressure on their temples. In addition, to prevent the glasses from falling off while playing or doing sports, it is recommended to attach a cord to the glasses.
5. The lens material should be organic It is important that the lenses are made of an organic material, preferably polycarbonate, since it is a material that has more resistance to tearing compared to other materials. It is also essential that the glasses have anti-scratch treatments, which offer greater resistance to scratches, as well as anti-reflective treatments, in order to eliminate most parasitic reflexes.
All children should have their eyesight checked. When they are very small, they are not able to tell if they are seeing well or not, and this check-up can detect correctable refractive errors that could harm the child's visual development, as well as help to prevent school difficulties which may involve a lack of optical correction.
During such exams, dilation by cycloplegia can be conducted to acertain your child’s refractive power. Some problems, such as strabismus or amblyopia (lazy eye), can be treated in infants and young children, but become irreversible once they grow up. Therefore, if you suspect that your child cannot see well or strains their sight when reading, it is important to have a check-up to detect or rule out vision problems such as nearsightedness or farsightedness and correct them.
sources:
https://aaco.memberclicks.net/assets/docs/Publications/Brochure-Selecting%20Childrens%20Glasses.pdf
