Children wearing contact lenses

mandi

Cherry_Bomb wrote: »

Don't know yet. Probably start in the Easter hols so I can at least see how he copes when that happens.

I just hope he has a massive "Fail" with them Cherry .( Sorry )

Six nearly seven is way too young for contacts , add another ten years and he might be mature enough to make an adult decision .

I'm speaking from experience BTW

Cherry_Bomb

mandi wrote: »

I just hope he has a massive "Fail" with them Cherry .

Six nearly seven is way too young for contacts , add another ten years and he might be mature enough to make an adult decision .

I'm speaking from experience BTW

Ill be forcing him to wear them now just so I don't have to come back and update how awful it was

I'm joking by the way.......

mandi

Cherry_Bomb wrote: »

Ill be forcing him to wear them now just so I don't have to come back and update how awful it was

I'm joking by the way.......

Cherry I know , and you want to do the best for your son , but the best thing you can do honestly is let him decide when he is an adult .

My son wears lenses now and I wish I could too , but last year I had ulcers on my eye which neary destroyed my sight .

My Consultant said that he has a daughter aged nine , and he would never let her wear contacts despite the fact she was stamping her feet about it

beedeedee

As I said earlier, my son had them from age 9. It was quite normal in the youngsters football and rugby world (probably still is). He was perfectly capable of putting them in and out and looking after them. Please don't underestimate kids and their abilities.
He never once had an infection from them and his eyes are fine.
PS - He's 34 now!

BigPoodle

My DD started wearing them in Nov 2012 just after her 9th birthday. I spoke to her school about them and they had no problem with it as long as she was responsible for them.
She wears them 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and they are daily disposable. I took a mirror in to school for her to use in-case of any problems and she always had a pair of glasses with her. During the first couple of weeks she would come out of school in her glasses. She had rubbed her eye and one had fallen out, so she took the other out and just put on her glasses.
The importance of hand hygiene is fully understood by her and her teacher explained to the class about the contact lenses.
When she goes swimming at school she will have to take out her lenses and store them in a special container from the opticians, then put them back in afterwards, she wears prescription goggles for swimming.
My DD was taught by the optician how to put in and take out the lenses this took about 3 appointments before she could do it her self and only then did we take away the lenses with us.
She is very happy with them and as she has been wearing glasses since she was 2.5 years old the change for her is what she wanted.

gregg1

Wilma33 wrote: »

Will he be able to cope if a lense falls out when you are not around? I don't think most 6 year olds would.

Simple, he would have his glasses at school in his bag with him and change over. We all wear lenses in my family but always have glasses with us in case we need them. When DS was ten and started wearing lenses we made sure she had glasses to pop on once her time limit was up with the lenses, it was never a problem. Of course, it made it easier that they were disposables so she could just chuck em away. As for hand hygiene, DS quickly learnt washing her hands was imperative before touching the lenses just like washing hands after the toilet. She has never had an infection.

If kids are keen to do something, it is amazing how quickly they pick things up, even at six years old.

Of course, there is also the fact that in most cases, vision is clearer with lenses and as a parent, I know I wanted to give my daughter the best I could afford in order to improve her sight. Her sight was poor so she welcomed the chance to be able see more clearly with the lenses. We made absolutely sure we stuck to the time limit for the lenses and she always worse glasses when at home. If it is carefully monitored it can be done.

PS. I also speak from experience.

igolenses

The main factor which determines what age a child can start to wear contact lenses is that they are motivated and confident enough to handle them. This varies from child to child.

An option which you might want to consider is Overnight Vision Correction. This involves wearing special overnight contact lenses which reshape the eye while sleeping. This means that during the day your child is glasses and contact lens free. There are two very important advantages of overnight lenses:

1.) They act as a retainers to stop they eye growing further out of shape with age thus stopping the prescription getting any worse. This is very important in a child so young because myopia progression is very aggressive during childhood and high prescriptions
lead to other eye problems in adult life. There is a lot of research to back this up carried out on children and you can find the key papers under latest research on igolenses.co.uk

2. Children using overnight lenses grow up with the feeling that they are not short sighted at all because they can see while wearing their lenses and also when they take them out. There is never a time when they cannot see. This means they can participate fully in all activities like any other child without the handicap of glasses. Normal contact lenses are not recommended for water bases activities like swimming. This important because it is during a child's early years their self image is formed.

We have a number of very young children wearing iGO OVC lenses the youngest is aged six. There is also a page about children with an interview with a Erin aged 8 and her mum, who started wearing glasses at 2 but switched to iGO at 8. Sorry but the website will not let me put the links in for you.

Loz01

I was about 11/12 when I started wearing them as I played football so the odd ball to the face was quite normal and it was dangerous to wear glasses that could shatter/smash. I found it hard the first time to put them in, mainly thru lack of experience but within a week I was flying, it became so easy! I stopped wearing them at about 16 and Im in my 20's now and have started again and it was just like getting back on a bike, easy peasy.

It all depends on how responsible your child is. I was (and still am) on daily throw aways so there's no having to take them out and put them in a contact lens case overnight etc, I find dailies much more easy.

Joons

Got my first pair at 17, been wearing them 30 years now and intend to carry on until d day! Not sure if a 6 year old could manage but spose if they were disposables, it could work, optician would know best.

sunshinetours

lil.smartie wrote: »

I had dailies at 16 but have used extended wear lenses for 10-15yrs now and have no issues. They were a pretty new product when I first had them but maybe they would work for a younger child. They allow lots of oxygen through and I can wear mine 6 weeks before changing them (optician approved before anyone shouts, my eyes deposit very little protein on them and they still look new after 6 weeks, she felt they would still be clean enough after 8-10 weeks but 6 was the limit she gave me!)

Kate

This is one of the key things with contacts. Your eyes can become infected from usual bacteria etc and all the nasties people mention above, but long term healthy eyes need the oxygen flow. I wouldn't be happy at all wityh my yog kids wearing them for this very simple reason about long term eye health.

The new generation lens simply haven't been round enough years to assess any long term eye issues