Children's UV Protection

Why is protecting your child’s eyes from UV exposure important?

Childhood is a crucial time for eye development as this is when good and bad eye care habits are formed. With the average child receiving three times the annual UV exposure of an adult, proper eyewear is critical in protecting your child’s sight. Being diligent about children’s eye care is particularly important because children’s eyes are naturally more sensitive to environmental factors that can be damaging to their eyes.

Consider the following:

• UV damage builds over time and exposure in childhood results in a higher incidence of cataracts, macular degeneration and other eye conditions in adulthood.
• The lens of the eye of a child under age 10 allows more than six times the amount of UV radiation to penetrate than an adult’s eye.
• When you protect the skin around your eyes—and everywhere else—during the first 18 years of your life, the risk of cancer is likely to be reduced by 50 per cent. This means that in addition to regular eye exams, you should make sure your children’s eyes and skin are protected from UV rays whenever they are outside.

Expecting a young child to remember to change their glasses when going outside, to protect themselves against UV, may not be realistic. Instead, parents might want to consider adaptive eyewear, like Transitions® everyday lenses, that automatically adapt to changing light and protect against glare and block 100 per cent of the UVA-UVB rays, to help ensure their child’s eyes are kept safe – no matter how active or distracted they might be.

For more information about UV visit our UV and children page, and for tips about healthy sight, visit http://www.eyedidntknowthat.ca or www.transitions.com.

The information provided in this article and elsewhere on this website are for informational purposes only, and should NOT be considered a medical diagnosis or advice. When in doubt, please visit your local optometrist for a complete professional evaluation.