Why is it never easy...Friday rant

jackomdj

DD age 5 went to the hospital for her routine eye test and they have upped the prescription. As she does a lot of swimming and is now swimming without armbands we decided to get her a pair of prescription goggles so she can see where she is going. (Will refrain from moaning about having to pay, even though she can't see what she is doing in the pool without glasses on)

We collected them last Friday, just in time for her lesson. As soon as she put them on a few little marks came up under her eye, I took them off and washed them thinking it was some residue from the manufacturing process. I told her to take them off if they hurt and mentioned it to the teacher (we are sat a long way from them and wouldn't be able to see)

When she got out of the pool her whole face was red with white welts and quite swollen. Really pleased one of the other mums is a nurse or I would have gone to a&e!

Opticians took them back and spoke to manufacturer to see what they are made of, latex free silicon, so not a latex allergy.

Nurse at our docs has advised us to carry piriton type medicine and keep some at school.

And now we just need to try to find some goggles that she does not react to! She has happily worn non prescription ones so please let it be an easy hunt!

Not looking for any answers, just wanted to rant a bit!

pigpen

take some usual ones in and ask them to fit prescription lenses to them. It could be a silicon allergy ot allergy to the dust they coat it with to stop them being icky.. like they do powder on the gloves.

Did you wash them before she wore them? they might well have had residue or even latex on them from the factory.

GlasweJen

We can't fit lenses to off the shelf swimming goggles - they're not designed to hold high prescription lenses.

OP can the opticians not swap them for a different model? We sell 4 brands of kids prescription goggles and only 2 are latex free so the others I assume are not silicone - ask the optician what's available.

jackomdj

We are going to try somewhere else, place we originally went only did two colours of the same style unless you started adding a couple of 0's to the price!

I am waiting for someone to call me back later, as it will mean a journey into town and did not want to do that if it was not necessary.

Thanks for the responses.

GlasweJen

If it helps I had to get my niece prescription goggles that I couldn't order through work and I used this website which was brilliant http://www.prescription-swimming-goggles.co.uk/Childrens_Prescription_Goggles.html.

The goggles we ordered were well made and had an astigmatic lens which is what caused the problem with ordering through work.

I'm assuming your daughter doesn't have a high astigmatism so if you find out what strength her current goggles are you can just input the strength on the website, we had a few queries which were sorted quickly on the phone and the goggles were with us within the week.

Gingernutty

Sorry to hear about your DS' troubles. Just because it isn't latex, doesn't mean there won't be an allergy problem.

Plasticisers and the lubricants required to release the 'bits' from the machines are all culprits.

I had a similar reaction to a pair of safety specs and ended up with ocular rosacea that still leaves my eyes bloodshot years later.

jackomdj

GlasweJen wrote: »

If it helps I had to get my niece prescription goggles that I couldn't order through work and I used this website which was brilliant http://www.prescription-swimming-goggles.co.uk/Childrens_Prescription_Goggles.html.

The goggles we ordered were well made and had an astigmatic lens which is what caused the problem with ordering through work.

I'm assuming your daughter doesn't have a high astigmatism so if you find out what strength her current goggles are you can just input the strength on the website, we had a few queries which were sorted quickly on the phone and the goggles were with us within the week.

Thanks, may talk to them if we don't get anywhere locally, although I will need to know I can return them if she reacts.

She does have an astigmatism (don't know if its high or not) but the optician in the hospital said he was not bothered about getting this on her goggles. R is -0.25 100 & L is -0.5 90.

GlasweJen

No those astigmatisms are tiny, they'll be just sharpening up the image (like the difference between regular and HD TV).

I don't know if they'll accept returns but may be able to send you samples to try before they are glazed.

geekgirl

If it was for me I would make myself some of these http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-prescription-swimming-goggles/

ecgirl07

GlasweJen wrote: »

If it helps I had to get my niece prescription goggles that I couldn't order through work and I used this website which was brilliant http://www.prescription-swimming-goggles.co.uk/Childrens_Prescription_Goggles.html.

their prices seem pretty reasonable, bookmarked for myself :beer:

Lara44

I used the site above and had a great experience. I have quite a high prescription and they help me feel so much more confident in the pool. Don't know why I didn't get them years ago!