“Can contact lenses be worn by an 8-year-old?”
My son is 8 years old and has glasses. He is actively into sports like football and finds it hard to play with them, and they could easily get broken on the field. Can he wear contact lenses at least while he is playing his sports?
14 Answers
A complete eye examination can help identify if he is elegible for contact lenses. There are many things to consider, not only his prescription, but responsibility of wearing and taking care of the contact lenses as the doctor indicates.
8 is a bit young. If he gets dirt in his eyes from football, he could get a serious infection. Usually, CL for boys with good hygiene, we start at about 12 to 13.
With the following reservations:
1. Safest is prescription sport glasses
2. Contacts should be fit and monitored by a pediatric ophthalmologist not a retail store.
3. Child should be highly motivated with a good sense of responsibility and hygiene.
MPK
1. Safest is prescription sport glasses
2. Contacts should be fit and monitored by a pediatric ophthalmologist not a retail store.
3. Child should be highly motivated with a good sense of responsibility and hygiene.
MPK
It is possible if your 8-year-old has enough dexterity and ability to essentially touch his eye and hold his eyelid to get the lens in. It is usually a little too young for the vast majority of 8-year-olds and he probably should only use them for activities. Good luck!
I would be comfortable with this as long as the child is otherwise healthy and as long as I had a responsible parent who learned all about contact lens insertion and removal and lens hygiene and did all of this for the child. The simplest would be to use daily disposable lenses and just throw them away after the activity. I’m assuming that swimming is not one of the sports. I would not let my child swim in contact lenses, and I absolutely would not allow him to sleep in them.
Stephen M. Hamilton, MD
Stephen M. Hamilton, MD
If he is mature and responsible enough to care for them completely by himself, yes
Contacts can be worn by an 8 year old while playing sports but I would strongly suggest you check with your eye care provider.
Most 8 year olds do not have the maturity or responsibility to wear contacts. That said, I would place that responsibility squarely on the parent before fitting.
Yes. That was the reason I became an eye surgeon. I tell parents when a child remembers to clean their room and make their bed every day without missing then they are mature enough for contacts. Otherwise, parents can place them before games or full contact practices until the child is mature enough to care for them alone.
Yes. If the child has a certain level of maturity and the parent is willing to monitor the child's use of the lenses. However, it is difficult to learn to insert and remove the lenses unless it is performed on a daily basis. Much more importantly, are you aware of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy)? It is a degenerative brain disease found in approximately 99% of deceased NFL players who have been tested. There are insufficient studies on the disease to determine at what age the disease begins. Therefore, it is possible that this seemingly innocent game your child is playing may be damaging his brain.
It depends on how responsible he is with caring for his eyes and contact lenses properly. How is his hygiene? Particularly hand-washing, and likelihood of cleaning contact lenses properly, nightly?
Yes it's possible, but there are risks like infection and blindness, if the cornea is damaged.
Maybe. I let my kids wear contacts starting around age 10. They have to be mature enough to accept the lens going in and out. I only approve of disposable lenses, use once and throw away.
He definitely can, he should get a good training for handling of contact lens.
