How To Choose The Right glasses for kids?

How To Choose The Right glasses for kids?

If you are a parent looking to buy a pair of glasses for your child, these tips can help you make the right choice and help your child have the best learning experience in life as one of the greatest senses they have (especially before their speech matures) are their eyes…

Buying the right eyewear for your kids can prove to be quite a challenge. Walking straight into an optical store without any background about what your kid requires will only end up causing more confusion. It can also be very expensive as most kid’s glasses aren’t very during and cause various problems after a short period of time such as:

  • Losing their shape;
  • Lenses popping out;
  • Continually slipping down the nose and marking a child’s face; and
  • A poor fit also leads to a short life span and can also lead to a child rejecting a pair of glasses and subsequently not wearing them for prolonged periods of time

So how to make the right choice?

Most optical stores have a large selection of frames on offer; however this can sometimes be confusion with lots to choose from and the frame you end up choosing ends up being the pair that you or your child “liked the look of”.

Outlined below are the key things to consider before you purchase your child’s glasses.

 

The lens thickness - One of the important factors to keep in mind before buying a frame for your child is the thickness of the lens. You will need to consult the optician to understand these details according to the prescription issued for your child. If the lens is thick, choose a small frame, this will ensure that the overall thickness is not too much. Larger frames typically lead to the lens to be thicker which if your child is long-sighted can make their eyes look extremely magnified and enlarge when they have their glasses on due to the curvature on the lens.

 

Fashionable and trendy - Kids often get uncomfortable with the idea of wearing specs and the best way to take care of the initial hesitation is to choose a stylish eyewear frame that your kid will love to wear. Steer clear from the uncool models and opt for more colourful options. Don’t always choose bland colours but rather sometimes a bright orange or red can really brighten up a child’s face and have the positive effect of showing off their glasses rather than being self-conscious of wearing them.

Skin complexion and head shape - Other details that you need to keep in mind is the complexion of your child’s skin and their head and face shape. For instance, brown, most metals and splashy colours like turquoise go well with warm skin colour tones. Similarly, you will come across interesting frame shapes as well that go well with different face shapes. Let your child check out the different styles and hear them out before finalising on the frame to be bought.

 

Frame material - Plastic still appears to be the material of choice when it comes to younger children. Especially frames made of TR90 which is a Swiss designed plastic technology which enables a super-flexible frame with shape intelligence and memory to help it sustain the sometimes harsh handling of a young child. While choosing the frame material for your kids, don’t forget to ask for hypoallergenic materials. This is very important, more so if your child is allergic to certain alloys commonly used in manufacturing eyewear frames.

Also be weary of pure-rubber like frames which may seem like a great idea due to their super-flexibility; however after a short period of time you will notice the lens popping out regularly and the frame losing its original shape in hot weather due to the rubber compounds response to heat if you leave your child’s glasses in the car on a hot summers day.

 

The right bridge fit - The eyewear frame rests on the nose. If it keeps sliding down, your child is likely to find it difficult to see. However, a tight bridge fit is also an equally uncomfortable option. The ideal option is to select a frame which incorporates an adjustable bridge fit to optimise the comfort for the child while wearing the glasses.

Additionally, the fitting on the bridge also tends to have an impact on the way your child’s face will look while wearing the eyewear. Therefore, choosing the right fit is very important. A good idea will be to make your child wear the frame and examine the fit carefully prior to making a purchase decision.

 

Temple styles - Temples that curve behind the ears offer a good fitting in children’s eyewear. Given the active lifestyle that kids are known to have, this style enhances the durability of the eyewear. The other options in this category include eyewear with adjustable headbands. However, there is a downside to relying purely on a headband to keep your child’s glasses on their face as it can cause their glasses to press into their face and make it uncomfortable on the bridge of their nose. Whereas having a perfect fit behind their ear will prevent the frames from slipping forward leaving the headband to provide the added security of your child’s glasses from falling off should they decide to have a jump on a trampoline!

 

Lens material - When it comes to choosing the right lens material for your child’s eyeglasses, it is best advised to do a little research on the available options and talk to your optician. Ultimately, the focus should be on choosing the material that offers good impact resistance. Additional protection against UV rays is also advisable to protect your children’s eyes from the damage of the harmful rays of the sun.

 

Good eye care - Getting regular eye checkups for your child will ensure the timely identification of vision problems and seek timely treatment. Additionally, vision health is a crucial part of your child’s life. After all, a lot of their learning in the initial years happens through their eyes. And good eye care habits will only help you, the parent, ensure that this learning happens in an uninterrupted fashion.

The usual problems in children are nearsightedness or farsightedness. However, it is important for the child to be examined by an eye doctor who will issue the prescription. This prescription defines the amount of visual correction that your child needs and therefore plays a crucial role in helping you buy the right eyewear for your child.

 

So, why have I written this article?

Simply put it is because when my son at just over the age of one was diagnosed with needing a pair of glasses… Like most parents I was initially upset for my “poor little bubba” and wondered how he would be able to wear glasses at such a young age; knowing that all he wanted to do was run and play without any restrictions. So, I embarked on a search to find the most appropriate eyewear and tried a few brands from some of the major optical retailers and after trying two different pairs which never seemed to really fulfil the fitment needs of my son. I eventually came across a product that solved all of my problems with lenses popping out, poor frame durability and really bad fittings behind the ear and on the bridge of the nose… So, what were these glasses… They were a little unknown brand called TOMATO GLASSES borne out of South Korea with a well-established fan club of happy parents in far-east countries such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

So, what was so great about these glasses? Well simply put they comprised of a patent technology that no other pair of glasses provided and that was a flexible frame, non-slip nose pad, adjustable temples for the perfect fit behind the ear; and solving my biggest problem which was a selection of different size nose pads which could be adjusted into different positions on the frame to provide the perfect pupil distance for my son so he could see right through the middle of his glasses.

To find out more about these glasses visit www.tomatoglasses.me and take a look at their AWESOME bright and colourful designs which are just perfect for enabling your child to wear a pair of glasses they feel confident in.

I truly hope that this article will benefit many other parents out there in search for those perfect pair of glasses for their child by being aware of what to look out for before parting with their money on glasses which may not meet the everyday needs of their child.


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