For eyecare practitioners, young patients pose a different set of challenges from adult patients. They lead active lifestyles, and school puts an additional workload on their eyes. And, with today’s children (and adults) relying so heavily on digital screens for their entertainment and even education, their young eyes are being challenged like never before.
We asked some ECPs to weigh in on lens features that they recommend for young patients here.
Below, we present additional thoughts from two ECPs—and some additional stats on just how much of children’s time is spent on computers and digital devices.
 

Robert Chu, O.D., managing director of Eyeworks Group in Fort Worth, TX:
“Blue light is a significant issue because children in today’s society are using blue light emitting devices for more hours per day on average than ever before. And since they are still young, the potential for accumulated damage will be greater over their lifetime.”

His recommendations for lenses?
“Lenses should have materials with high impact resistance such as polycarbonate and Trivex. Most kids wear single vision. But recently, some doctors are prescribing more progressives for kids in efforts to slow the progression of myopia.  For high plus powered lenses, the glasses should use aspheric lenses designs.”
And, of course, a coating or lens that blocks harmful blue light.
 
Danielle Crull, ABOM, owner of A Child’s Eyes in Mechanicsburg, PA:
“When it comes to blue light filtering for emmetropes, it is important to find out if the child spends a lot of time on hand-held devices and if they are symptomatic in any way. If so, it is a good idea to call attention to these kids, because we may be able to help with the filtering of blue light. An area that I don’t see a lot of people talking about are the children with special needs that may be using devices to aid in speaking. These kids use their iPads and hand held devices constantly and perhaps are unable to communicate the discomfort they may be having. As with all things, we need to get to know our patient and their needs.”

She’s also big on protecting young eyes from injury:
“Honestly, when it comes to emmetropes my main concern is about protection during sports. From the NEI (National Eye Institute): ‘Eye injuries are the leading cause of blindness in children in the United States and most injuries occurring in school-aged children are sports-related.^’ We need to expose a couple of myths, one being if you don’t wear glasses during sports you have no risks, that is simply untrue. And secondly we need to expose the myth that wearing contact lenses suddenly eliminates the risk of eye injuries, because that is not only untrue, but the opposite of true. Wearing contact lenses poses additional risks that sports glasses can eliminate.”
  VSP Global recently released new survey findings that that highlight the drastic amount of time children and adults spend on devices and the potential health concerns, including:
 
♦ Parents reported spending almost half their waking hours looking at screens (about 61 hours per week).
 
♦ Nearly two-thirds of parents think their family spends too much time on digital devices and nearly half of parents (44%) went as far as to say their kids are addicted to digital devices.
 
♦ More than half of parents (58%) are either only slightly or not at all aware of blue light and its potentially harmful impacts on vision and overall health.
 
♦ Almost half (49%) of parents currently have or used to have limitations on children’s daily device usage but said those rules aren’t enforced. However, nearly two-thirds (63%) of parents think it’s important to unplug from technology.
 
 (photo courtesy of PPG Industries)