Maturity is key factor when prescribing contact lenses to children

A child’s maturity was the key factor that UK optometrists looked to when prescribing contact lenses, new research from the College of Optometrists has found.

The survey, undertaken by the College and jointly-funded by Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, looked at the prescribing habits for children and young people and found that maturity than was more important than age in deciding whether the patient was suitable for contact lenses.

Other factors optometrists took into account were the child’s interest and motivation to wear contact lenses, personal hygiene habits and ability to look after them.

Spectacles remained the main form of recommended vision correction for children and young people for the 748 practitioners surveyed, but the frequency with which they recommended contact lenses, either as the primary or secondary approach to vision correction, increased with age. Over three quarters (76.2 per cent) said they would be likely to recommend contact lenses as part of the approach to vision correction for children aged 10-12 years. By age 15, less than 1 per cent would routinely only recommend spectacles, and 44.6 per cent would recommend contact lenses as the primary correction.