In a new survey, more than half of parents with children ages 8 to 17 who currently need vision correction say their child is interested in wearing contact lenses.

But nearly one-third of those parents have never considered contacts for their child, and another 27 percent haven’t considered it seriously.

The results are somewhat surprising, given other findings of the survey: Parents of kids who currently wear prescription eyeglasses say their child doesn’t like wearing glasses (42 percent), doesn’t always wear them when he should (41 percent) and sometimes feels self-conscious wearing them (40 percent).

The two main reasons parents gave for not being more proactive about contact lens wear for their children: a belief that eyeglasses are easier to clean and care for than contacts (77 percent) and concern about their child’s ability to take proper care of contact lenses (54 percent).

Recent studies, however, demonstrate that most children are capable of caring for soft and silicone hydrogel contact lenses, and wearing contacts may improve a child’s self-perception, especially among girls.

The survey was conducted on behalf of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., the manufacturer of Acuvue brand contact lenses. A full report of the survey can be found on the company’s website.

Wearing contact lenses improves self-worth measures among girls, according to the results of a study conducted at five clinical centers in the U.S. by a collaborative team of optometrists and psychologists.

The three-year study, conducted from September 2003 to October 2007, assessed the effects of eyeglasses and contact lenses on the self-perception of nearsighted children ages 8 to 11 years.

A total of 484 nearsighted children (59 percent female) participated in the Adolescent and Child Health Initiative to Encourage Vision Empowerment (ACHIEVE) study. The children were randomly assigned to wear glasses (n=237) or contact lenses (n=247) for three years.

At the end of the three-year period, all children were surveyed using the Self-Perception Profile for Children scale, a proven measurement tool used in numerous studies in the fields of developmental psychology and social development. The scale evaluates self-perception in five areas: scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance and behavioral conduct. It also provides a global measure of self-worth.

Commenting on the results of the study, lead investigator Jeffrey J. Walline, OD, PhD (Ohio State University College of Optometry) said, “Contact lenses significantly improve how children feel about their physical appearance, acceptance among friends and ability to play sports. Contact lenses even make children more confident about their academic performance if they initially dislike wearing glasses.”

Though children in both groups showed changes global self-worth over the three-year treatment period, the change was only significantly different between contact lens wearers and spectacle wearers among girls who reported low levels of satisfaction with eyeglasses at the beginning of the study.

“Girls are particularly vulnerable to social and psychological distress during the transition years of early and middle adolescence and this data suggests that for girls, in particular, a switch from glasses to contact lenses may result in an improvement in self-perception,” said Mitchell J. Prinstein, PhD, Professor and Director of Clinical Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and co-author of the study.

Based on the results of the study, both researchers say contact lenses provide benefits to children beyond simple vision correction, and that parents and eye doctors should take this into consideration when considering eyewear choices for children. 

The ACHIEVE study was supported by funding from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. (makers of ACUVUE brand contact lenses) and The Vision Care Institute, LLC, a Johnson & Johnson Company.

Source:  Girls’ overall self-worth improves with contact lens wear, study shows. (Press release on the Johnson & Johnson website. June 25, 2009.)