BEALER Kids Flex BL8002 Three-Pack M3, Glossy Black, Pink/Cyan and Blue/Dark Blue

Before it goes on a child

Children need sunglasses for the same reason adults do and, according to the American Optometric Association, for longer: they spend more time in the sun than adults, and the harm from ultraviolet light adds up over a lifetime. The academy of ophthalmology says plainly that babies and children need hats and sunglasses. The lens in our children's frame carries a UV400 rating and a polarizing film; the frame bends because it is made of a soft thermoplastic rather than a rigid one. Bendable is not the same as unbreakable: US regulation requires the lens in every pair of sunglasses to pass a drop-ball impact test, and a pass in that test is all that impact resistant means. A pair that has been sat on or stepped on should be looked over before it goes back on a face, and a child with a red, watering or light-sensitive eye needs an eye doctor rather than a darker lens.

Every sentence in this note about the eye comes from a named public source. All of them, with the date we read them, are on our updates page.