Why kids glasses should offer the best UV protection
When it comes to letting their children play outdoors, most parents know how important it is to wear sunscreen, but the effect that Ultraviolet Radiation can have on their eyes is often overlooked.
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is always there. All-year-round, all-day, whether it’s winter or summer, in sunny conditions or even on cloudy days when UV exposure can reach 70-75% at ground level. UV radiation actually has several beneficial effects for us, including vitamin D production via skin exposure. It also stimulates the production of melanin, your body’s own protection against sunburn that causes a tanned complexion.
However, if your unprotected skin is exposed to UV radiation for a prolonged period, it can cause damage such as photo-ageing, wrinkles, and in severe cases, skin cancer.
Why are children more sensitive to UVR?
Your child may have experienced painful sunburn after a day spent outside – a direct result of prolonged UV exposure. However, UVA and UVB are also known causes of skin cancer3 and eye diseases, and children are more susceptible to UVR damage for several reasons:
- Children tend to spend more time outdoors, making their average UV exposure three times higher than that of an adult. 40-50% of lifetime UV exposure up to the age of 60 will happen before your child turns 204.
- Melanin is the skin’s natural protective pigment.5 It effectively absorbs light and can dissipate absorbed UV radiation in the skin. Children’s skin contains less melanin.
- The crystalline lens protecting the eye is more transparent in children. As a result, for children under the age of 10, over 75% of UVR is transmitted by the crystalline lens, compared to 10% of UVR in those older than 25 years.6
Don’t forget to protect your child’s eyes!
You’ve probably read a few parenting magazines, websites, children’s health blogs and social media posts where there’s a lot of focus on skin protection. It’s great to be aware of this, however, we tend to overlook the fact that excessive UV exposure can also be harmful to their eyes.
As mentioned already, the crystalline lens of a child’s eye allows more harmful UV rays through than the crystalline lens of an adult eye does. The sun can cause severe damage early on even though it may only present itself later in life in the form of cataracts (responsible for 48% of blindness worldwide) or photoaging.