Want to give your kid more confidence? Ditch the specs. That's the word from researchers at Ohio State. They say compared to glasses, contact lenses improve how kids feel about their appearance, their ability to play sports and their acceptance among friends.
Jeffrey Walline, the study leader looked at 500 nearsighted children for 3 years. Half of the 8-11 year old kids wore glasses, the other, contacts. During that time, the kids with contacts had significantly higher scores of self-perceived physical appearance, athletic competence and social acceptance.
And the effects of being called "four eyes" don't disappear. "Research shows spectacles to be associated with poorer self-perception in adults if they were first worn during childhood," Walline says.
Results of the study are published in the March issue of Optometry and Vision Science.
