How old to wear contact lenses?

gregg1

MATH wrote: »

I am quite shocked at the young age some kids are wearing contacts. I don't know why I find it shocking or why I wouldn't allow my children to do it, but I do! LOL Personally I wouldn't consider any of my kidz try them before 13-14yrs old. Fortunately none of them need to wear glasses so the issue hasn't arrisen.

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One important point here - my daughter has been wearing contact lenses since she was 10 years old - her vision is so much better with contact lenses as they sit directly on the eye (obviously). I considered it important to make sure her vision was as good as it could be hence going for contacts. She used daily disposables (until last year when she started on the ortho K lenses which have been discussed on other threads) and has had no problems whatsoever. We went for dailies as the risk of infection is much lower as they do not need cleaning. She wore them for a max of 10 hours per day but absolutely not when swimming as the risk of infection is fairly high.

In reply to the poster who mentioned getting their kids lenses online, my advice would be absolutely do not go down that road with children. I do buy my own lenses online but my own daughter needed 6 monthly checks and on almost every occasion her prescription changed. You do need the security of regular checks with children which you would not get so easily if you bought online.

PS - another reason (but certainly not the main one) for going for contacts was that my daughter was getting teased quite badly for wearing glasses - some kids can be vile.

frivolous_fay

I was prescribed glasses for reading when I was young (and an insufferable bookworm, still am)

I hated them and refused to wear them. Who knows, if I had, I might not be wearing glasses / contacts full-time now, or my prescription might be lower.

I still hate glasses. They're a total pain in the butt. I only wear them when I'm too lazy to put my lenses in. (Most days, lol)

By the way my dad was one of the early hard contact lense makers, once made red lenses for a horror film and invented a type of bifocal lense

beedeedee

My son had them at 9 because he was a keen footballer and they weren't allowed to wear spectacles during a game. This was in the eighties and he's never looked back !......

FIL!!*_2

Hi,
I am an Optician and have been fitting contact lenses to children for many years. There are many factors that we consider when consulting, these may include,
1.the type of prescription, longsight, shortsight or astigmatism,
2.the age and maturity of the child,
3.the shape of the eye,
4.any predisposing ocular conditions (e.g exzema),
5.what the contact lenses will be used for,
6.the level of motivation of the child (often it is the parents that want their child to have them!)
7.their level of clenliness and dexterity. They must be able to insert and remove their lenses themselves.
There have been many cases where the use of contacts lenses for children have changed and certainly improved their life and lifestyles.
The Optician should consider each case individually and weigh up all the factors before prescribing.
There are so many different types of lenses available that finding the correct type and style presents few problems now.
I have fitted children as young as 9 years old and they have been compliant and had no problems and conversely I have fitted 17 years olds that have been a nightmare!
I hope this is of some help to you?