Contact lenses offer kids vision correction that won’t change their appearance or interfere with sports or activities. Once they learn to wear and take care of the lenses, this is an easy and low-maintenance choice for your child. Follow these tips to help kids succeed in wearing their contacts.

How to Help Your Child Learn to Wear Contact Lenses

1. Establish Good Hygiene

Teach your child to always wash their hands before dealing with their contacts. Ideally, use a non-oily soap with no fragrance or moisturizer, but it’s better to clean hands with what’s available than not at all. Assist the child in keeping her nails short and clean as well. Since contact lenses aren’t recommended for children younger than 12, it should be easy to establish these routines.

2. Preparing the Lenses

Have the child start with the same side first every time, right or left, so they don’t get confused. Help them rinse the lens with contact lens solution and place it on the fingertip of the dominant hand. Make sure to show them how to tell if the lens is inside out—it should look like a bowl with straight, not flared, edges.

3. Inserting the Lens

The next step is placing the lens in the eye. With the non-dominant hand, they should hold the upper eyelid while the hand with the lens holds the lower eyelid. As they bring the contact toward their eye, have them look directly through the lens. Then, tell them to place it gently on the cornea and take the hands away. Have the child blink a few times to lubricate and gently move the lens into place. Repeat with the other contact.

4. Taking the Contacts Out

This is essentially just a reversal of the insertion process. With clean hands, have the child use their dominant index finger to gently move the lens to the lower white part of the eye. Then, they should squeeze the lens slightly between their thumb and index finger and remove it; do the same on the other side. Care for lenses as instructed.

Contact lenses are easy to learn how to wear with practice. The Whitefish Eye Center, in Flathead County, MT, offers complete vision solutions — including contacts, glasses, eye exams, and infant vision assessments. Call (406) 862-2020 to make an appointment, or visit the website to learn more about staff and services.