More than a third (35.5 percent) of parents reported that their children had never received an eye exam and more than half (58 percent) of the respondents claimed they passed on an exam for their children because they did not need an exam, according to a Vision Council VisionWatch survey, which queried parents about their children’s vision correction needs and behaviors.

In February 2018, The Vision Council fielded a short questionnaire designed to gather information about parents with children under the age of 18 living at home. The survey asked questions about the vision correction needs and behaviors of those children. When asked about the types of vision correction used, parents reported that 18.9 percent of children regularly wear Rx eyeglasses, and close to 5 percent wear Rx contact lenses. Factors leading toward the use of prescription eyewear by children under 18 included age, eye exams and insurance coverage.

The 3,427 parents surveyed reported an aggregate total of 4,158 children under the age of 18 living at home. As mentioned, about one fourth of children wear some sort of vision correction or protection. This leaves the majority of children under the age of 18 (66.5 percent) without any form of protection.

About 35.5 percent of all parents with children living at home reported that their child(ren) has never received an eye exam. Parents with only one child living at home, and parents with a child under the age of 10 living at home, were more likely than other parents to have never taken any of their children to get their eyes examined. Contrary to previous years, insurance coverage (of any kind) showed to be a marginal influence on the frequency or history of eye exams among American children.

It is expected that parents with insurance coverage, especially vision care coverage, would be much more likely to have taken their children to receive an eye exam in the past, however, even this small trend does not completely match this narrative. The previous reports, fielded in 2014 and 2016 showed no relationship, so this will be worth monitoring in subsequent surveys.

Among the 1,778 parents who have not taken their children to receive an eye exam within the past two years, 58 percent claim they have passed on an exam for their child because their children do not need an exam. Parents with children over the age of 10 living at home and parents with more than one child living at home were more likely than other parents to avoid eye exams for their children because of the belief that their children don’t need one.

Among the children that do use vision correction there are some factors that influence wearing habits and product use. For instance, older children were more likely than younger children to wear just about all types of eyewear, especially prescription contact lenses. Also, children who have had their eyes examined in the past year were more likely than other children to wear some type of eyewear, especially prescription eyeglasses.

Finally, children that are covered by some type of insurance, especially standard MVC plans and tax-deferred FSA/MSA plans, were also more likely to wear more than one form of vision correction, The vast majority of lenses purchased by parents for their children were single vision lenses (80.2 percent). Close to one fourth (23 percent) reported that their child’s lenses had an AR coating. As could be expected, the likelihood of AR coating on children’s glasses increased with income, and possession of managed vision coverage. Other lens characteristics seem to respond to these factors as well; among the 40 percent who reported scratch resistant lenses, and the 10 percent who reported buying tinted or photochromic lenses for their children.

Around 50 percent of parents said they purchased their child’s eyeglasses with the assistance of a managed vision care plan. Benefit usage increases along with reported household income, with a jump particularly with families making over $60,000 annually.

Around 30 percent of parents said they spent over $100 in out-of-pocket funds for their child’s eyeglasses. This predictably, and in keeping with the trend, was more likely in higher income households. One interesting point is that parents who had some type of insurance coverage were also more likely to spend over $100. Those that are not bearing the full cost of glasses are more likely to increase the amount spent out-of-pocket on eyeglasses for their children.

Data in this article was compiled from VisionWatch, the large scale continuous research study conducted by The Vision Council. VisionWatch contains useful industry data on lenses, frames, sunglasses, reading glasses, contact lenses, eye exams and refractive surgery. For additional information, contact Steve Kodey at (703) 740-1095.