More than 3.7m people in the UK enjoy the many benefits of contact lenses but only a very small proportion of them are children.
Nearly one in five children aged five to 15 years, rising to almost one in three 16-19 year olds need vision correction yet only about one in 12 of those who could wear contact lenses currently do so. Many more children and teens would potentially benefit from contact lenses.
Interest in contact lenses starts at an early age and their use is widely suited to all age groups. The average age at which children are first fitted with contact lenses is currently 13 years although studies have shown that even young children can be very successful in wearing, handling and looking after contact lenses.
Contact lenses also have a very high satisfaction rate among young wearers, rated as high as 97 per cent among eight to 12-year-olds and 99 per cent among 13 to 17 year olds. Both groups benefit from significant improvements in their quality of life.
