Choosing glasses for kids
Nicole started wearing glasses on 11 Mar 2014. (Thank God for social media which dated all my posts!) and it took getting used to for her, and for ME! Yes, I was close to tears to realise my baby has stuff on her beautiful face for the rest of her life (until she gets contacts or lasik). Well, it went very well, she got used to it really fast and I started to enjoy this pretty face with glasses.
Fast forward to September, and Nicole came home one day complaining that she can’t really see the words on the whiteboard in class. For a while, I thought maybe the person in front of her grew taller? Or she’s not having enough sleep? I spoke to some friends who have been wearing glasses since young, and they told me, it is common for the eye degree to increase as the child grows. But very rarely in 6 months! They all advised to bring her back to the Ophthalmologist who first diagnose her myopia.
And I quickly made an appointment and realised, yes, her degree did go up, 75 degrees each side. sigh… So armed with her new prescription, we headed to Nanyang Optical to make new glasses. (They have to be new, since we don’t have a spare pair at home!)
Her current pair was Crizal Transitions Signature Lenses and I knew she loved the Transitions part of it so much, we had to get that again. And I was pleasantly surprised that Crizal has new lenses that help protect the eyes further. I was introduced to the new Crizal Prevencia–the world’s first spectacle lens to offer selective protection against harmful blue light and UV rays. Woah!!
These new lens have a special filter that only allow beneficial blue-turquioise light to pass through, and in turn filter out harmful Blue-Violet rays that contribute to Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Ultra-violet light is the portion of the spectrum of invisible light and some common sources are Fluorescent lighting, LED and Video displays. Exposure to these UV rays can cause the gradual degeneration of retinal cells and potentially lead to serious eye conditions.
I did a quick google and found out that the people most susceptible to harmful UV lights are those who work or play in the sun, and those who are in an environment with fluorescent light and children! Now that sounds like all the students in Singapore! Children’s developing eyes are very transparent and allow all visible lights and some UV rays to pass through their retinas. It’s very easy for them to accumulate high exposure of UV rays over time.
I learnt the Crizal Prevencia lenses could filter out these harmful UV rays while maintaining the transparency of the lens and ensuring an optimal visual experience for prescription glasses wearers. It was an easy decision. We quickly picked out her new frames which she spent a really long time figuring out the colour combination, and I knew I had to ensure these new glasses were Transition Lenses too, as it was something she’s been very used to when she goes out in the day.
With these new glasses, we are happy that we are wearing one of the pioneering preventative innovations by Essilor. Thank you Essilor and Crizal for helping us ensure Nicole is looked after well for her visual health!