Never too young to wear sunglasses!

30th November 2016

  Optometry Australia, the professional association for Australian optometrists, has just issued some guidance on why children as young as three should wear sunglasses. The association’s senior resident optometrist Luke Arundel said, “Our eyes are 10 times more sensitive to UV than our skin. Too much exposure to UV light increases the risk of various eye diseases and cancer.

“UV damage is cumulative and irreversible so it is important to protect children’s eyes as early as possible because sun-related eye damage occurs in the early ages of childhood, particularly between the ages of three and 12. The simple precaution of ensuring children wear sunglasses will help reduce a child’s chance of developing eye problems such as macular degeneration and cancer of the eyelids later in life.”

Research in Australia showed about 56 per cent of adults wore sunglasses every weekend, but the figures for children were far less. This is true of the UK too – a report undertaken by the College of Optometrists showed that nearly a third of parents in the UK do not buy their children sunglasses at all.

We know from our experience of doing consumer shows and selling children’s sunglasses from the stand that kids absolutely love sunglasses – they think it’s “cool” to wear them – so usually they need very little encouragement! And good quality sunglasses don’t cost much – we have a big range available on the site with the majority under £10 in price.