Should you buy your children’s glasses online ?

Should you buy your children’s glasses online ?

In recent years we have seen a significant growth in the popularity of buying eyewear online with many positive and just as many negative stories; however, should your children’s eyeglasses be included in this growing trend? Should you purchase your child’s glasses online?
The short answer is; it depends.

Not really helpful so let’s delve a little deeper. Buying glasses online is okay; but, when doing so you should still ensure you purchase from a licensed optician to be certain of fit, correct measurements, adjustment, and on-going comfort. Your child’s vision is arguably their most important sense and maximizing their vision with a well crafted pair of eyeglasses is important for a variety of reasons, including the following:

1. Your child’s eyeglasses and their ability to see will absolutely affect their learning. If your child cannot see correctly; they cannot read correctly, they cannot see the lessons correctly, or even see the teacher correctly. All of these will lead to significant challenges and difficulty in school from embarrassment to lower grades to concerns about learning disabilities. The potential consequences can be devastating and life altering. 
2. Correctly fitting glasses will have a significant impact on your child’s ability to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities like drama. Simply, your child needs to see well to engage in their favourite activities and hobbies so they can perform at their best. The confidence building these activities can create can be significant in a developing child’s self-esteem. Beyond that, a poorly fit or adjusted pair of glasses can lead to more direct consequences like trips or falls. In these situations, the best result is the potential breakage of the glasses and the costs associated with that, while the worst can involve trauma and hospital visits – things every parent tries to avoid. 
3. As touched on above, eyewear has a significant impact on your child’s self-esteem. Eye glasses can change or even make their look at a time in their lives when they are developing and creating their own image, style, and building their self-confidence. A licensed optician is uniquely qualified to help both you and your child choose the glasses that will help your child feel confident as they move forward into adulthood.

Beyond these considerations, it’s also important to note that many ocular conditions may improve with correctly adjusted glasses or, conversely, worsen with ill-fitting or incorrect ones. For example esotropia, a turning of the eye, can often be outgrown over time for some children after years of wearing corrective glasses. Unfortunately an incorrect prescription or a cheap, ill fitting pair of glasses can ruin their chance of improving their vision and potentially even worsen it.
In conclusion, vision is your child’s most precious sense and while you can order online successfully, you want to ensure you’re offering them the gift of perfect vision. For this a licensed optician is your best option – either online or in-person.