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Teen Vision: Time for Contacts?

Parents of children who wear glasses often wonder, ‘When is my child ready for contacts?’

While most kids start wearing contact lenses in their teens, recent studies have shown that children as young as 8 years old can successfully wear contacts and care for them properly. There is no magic age when kids are ready for contact lenses — it really depends on how responsible they are and how motivated they are to wear contacts.

Though many teens want contacts because they feel they look better without glasses, there are other benefits of contact lenses as well.

Contact lenses offer better peripheral vision than glasses and there little or no risk of them dislodging from the eye. This can be a big advantage in sports.

Caring for contact lenses is also simpler than ever. In most cases, only one contact lens solution is needed to rinse, clean, disinfect and store the lenses. For even greater convenience, daily disposable contact lenses are an option for most wearers. These lenses are discarded after each use, so there is no lens care required at all.

Contact lenses also boost self-esteem, especially among teenage girls, according to recent research called the Adolescent and Child Health Initiative to Encourage Vision Empowerment (ACHIEVE) study. This found that contact lenses significantly improve how children and teens feel about their physical appearance, acceptance among friends and ability to play sports. Contacts even make some kids more confident about their academic performance, the study found.

To determine if your child is a good candidate for contact lens wear, schedule a contact lens exam today by clicking the button below or calling 850.479.7379.

Foreign Body, Eye Treatment

source: http://firstaid.webmd.com

Self-Care at Home

You should be able to care for minor debris in your eye at home. If you have trouble removing something in your eye or if a larger or sharper object is involved, you should seek medical attention at (850) 479-7379. If you are wearing a contact lens, it should be removed prior to trying to remove the foreign body. Do not put the contact lens back into your eye until your eye is completely healed.

For minor foreign bodies, such as an eyelash, home care should be adequate.

• Begin by rinsing your eye with a saline solution (the same solution used to rinse contact lenses). Tap water or distilled water may be used if no saline solution is available. Water will effectively flush out your eye, but the chlorine in most tap water can cause varying levels of irritation. How you wash out your eye is less important than getting it washed out with great amounts of water.
• A water fountain makes a great eye wash. Just lean over the fountain, turn on the water, and keep your eye open.
• At a sink, stand over the sink, cup your hands, and put your face into the running water.
• Hold a glass of water to your eye and tip your head back. Do this many times.
• If you are near a shower, get in and put your eye under the running water.
• If you are working outside, a garden hose running at a very modest flow will work.
• If washing out your eye is not successful, the object can usually be removed with the tip of a tissue or a cotton swab.
• Pull back the eyelid by pulling down on the bottom edge of the lower lid or by pulling up on the upper edge of the upper lid.
• Look up when evaluating for a foreign body under the lower lid.
• Look down when evaluating for a foreign body under the upper lid. You will often need someone to help you in this case.
• Be very careful not to scrape the tissue or the cotton swab across your cornea, the clear dome over the iris.

For larger foreign bodies or metal pieces, you should seek medical care, even if you are able to safely remove them at home.

• If the foreign body is easily accessible and has not penetrated your eyeball, you may be able to remove it carefully with a cotton swab or a tissue.
• If you have any question about penetration of the eye, do not remove the object without medical assistance.
• If you cannot remove the object or if you continue to have the sensation that something is in your eye even after the debris is removed, you should seek medical care.
• After the foreign body is removed, your eye may be red and tearing.
• You may protect your eye by cutting the top part off of a Styrofoam or paper cup and placing the cup over your eye. If you place a cup over your eye, do not put any pressure on the injured eye, because it could cause additional injury to your eye.
• This cup can be taped in place and will form a cover over your eye.
• It is very important not to rub your eye or to apply any pressure to your eye. If you have punched a hole in your eye (called a ruptured globe or eyeball), you can do significant damage by pressing or rubbing your eye. This is especially true with small children who will rub their eyes to try to remove the debris.

For scratches on your cornea (called corneal abrasions), the usual treatment is an antibiotic ointment and/or antibiotic eyedrops and pain medicine. If the abrasion is large (greater than 50% of the corneal surface), then it may also be treated with a patch.

Any noted damage to the iris, the lens, or the retina requires immediate evaluation by an optometrist and may or may not require surgery.

A ruptured eyeball requires surgery by an optometrist.

If no other injury is noted, hyphema (blood in between the cornea and the iris) requires close follow-up care with an optometrist.