Contact lenses

And with modern advances making contacts more comfortable and easier to keep clean, eye experts today are willing to prescribe lenses for children when they're still in middle school or even elementary school.

"You have to look at the individual, their level of maturity, their level of motivation," said Tom Barracato, a licensed optician at Adolph Optical Service Inc.

in Akron, Ohio.

Barracato is vice chair of the National Contact Lens Examiners Board and vice president of the Opticians Association of Ohio.

"A young boy playing baseball, he's got a helmet on, he's sweating.

You get considerably better vision out of contacts in that setting," he said.

Maturity matters When Alexis decided she wanted to try contacts after wearing glasses since age 4, her mother, Dianne, took the girl to Barracato for an exam.

Before fitting Alexis for contacts, Barracato asked her mother a frank question: "Do you think she's mature enough?

" Her mother didn't hesitate, "Yes." "She's a good kid," her mother said.

"She's a good student.

When her eyes are tired, she knows and she'll wear her glasses.

She's good about knowing when her eyes need a rest." Kids who want to wear contacts generally do well with the routine needed to care for them, said Jeffrey J.

Walline, an Ohio State University assistant professor of optometry who has studied contact use by preteens.

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