Insights From Our Editors

When Did Parents Last Buy Rx Eyewear for their Children?

Many parents are buying their children prescription eyewear, but there are still inroads to be made, findings from the 2014 Vision Council VisionWatch Parent Child Vision Care Report suggest. Among the 1,200 children whose parents said they regularly wore Rx eyeglasses, around 45.1 percent purchased eyeglasses for one of their children within six months of being surveyed in January of 2014.

An additional 26 percent of parents purchased eyeglasses for one of their children 6 to 12 months from the time of being surveyed. Another 23.4 percent bought a pair of eyeglasses for one of their children more than 1 year from the time of the survey and the remaining 6 percent said they have never purchased a new pair of eyeglasses for their child, possibly meaning a grandparent or other relative made the purchase or they received the glasses for free, or as a gift.

Click HERE for an article that contains important information for all eyecare professionals who interact with children and their parents.

Parents were asked a series of questions. Their responses should help guide us in our eyewear presentations to parents. Here are the key questions and answers.
Q. How important is it to you that your child’s eyeglasses are made with the most advanced technology?

A. 75 percent responded that they wanted the most advanced lens technology.

Q. How important is it to you that your vision insurance covers the most advanced lens technology for your child’s eyeglasses?

A. 86 percent responded they wanted the vision insurance to cover the most advanced lens technology.

Q. What is most important to you (parents) when deciding on a lens material for your child’s eyeglasses?
A. 50 percent: A combination of attributes such as clearest vision, thinness, light weight, impact resistance, UV protection.
16 percent: Impact resistance, protection and durability
15 percent: Price
13 percent: The lens that offers best vision

Now that you know this information, this should change how we present lenses to parents for their children. Just taking the highest responses, our presentations should be:
1) The reason we are prescribing this lens for your child is because it is made with the most advanced technology. This gives your child the following benefits over a standard lens … clearest vision, thinness, light weight, impact resistance and UV protection.

2) Isn’t it great that your vision insurance contributes to the purchase of the most advanced lens technology? The normal price is $____, but with your insurance contribution, the price is only $___.

Please notice that price was low in importance to parents.

The purpose of this exercise is to make presentations to parents based on what they view as important rather than what we might think is important.

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