Facts about Children's Vision

• The size of a newborn's eye is only 16 mm; to the age of five, an eye reaches a size of 23.5 mm (as an adult’s).

• Before reaching the age of one year, all children have a low visual acuity (0.3-0.4).

• Only at the age of 6-7 years visual acuity in children's eyes usually gets to 1.0 (100%).

• Only by the age of 7 years binocular vision forms (the ability to see clearly the image object simultaneously with both eyes).

• Little children are usually far-sighted (see well in the distance).

• Myopia develops mainly in school age.

• Full correction of myopia is very important. Wearing glasses (or contact lenses) constantly can stop its development.

• The development of myopia is strongly affected by space limitations. In large cities there is often a lack of opportunity to look into the distance, the majority of subjects and objects are close enough, there are no such open spaces as in the countryside.

If you do not draw the attention of a child to subjects distant from the eyes, his world narrows just to a notebook lying on the table, and a computer monitor.

• The greater the bend of the child's head to a textbook or a notebook, the closer his eyes are to the object or the subject, the higher the risk of developing myopia.

• Lighting must be correct for a child - use the dim light bulbs and make sure that no light dazzles his eyes.

• Do not abuse children, who jokingly mow their eyes - it turns out that bringing the eyes to the nose is a simple but very effective exercise-workout for the eyes, and is recommended by ophthalmologists for prevention of myopia at pre-school age.

• The age of prescribing contact lenses depends on the willingness of the child and parents to use lenses. The most common reason for children to use contact lenses are: up to 6 years - medical indications (when the doctor sees advantages over spectacle correction), from 7 years and older - social indications (complexes, shyness, etc.)

• According to statistics, children cope with contact lenses even better than adults. Most children follow the recommendations of a doctor better than older patients, children aged 7-11 years are able to put on and take off contact lenses themselves.

But we should not forget that parents must supervise their children wearing lenses, timely replacement, and hygiene in the manipulation with the lenses.

• Children have wide eye pupils and transparent eye-lens, unlike adults, so the retina of a children's eye receives more pathogenic UV radiation. In addition, children spend a lot of time in the street.

Therefore, if contact lenses are ordered to a child, for games and other outdoor activities contact lenses with UV filters are necessary, which provides additional protection for the eyes.

However, remember that contact lenses do not protect the area around the eyes, so, being in the sun for a long time, a child should wear sunglasses and a wide-brimmed hat.