contact lens discussion thread (merged)

BernadetteN

I wear contact lenses and have done since I was around 18 but before then I wore glasses. We have a 10 year old son who has to wear glasses all his waking hours due to his prescription and has been told it is unlikely that his sight will improve that he can do without them. Our optician mentioned recently, when I told him how much our son disliked his glasses, that he actually supplies under 18 year olds with contact lenses and advised that our son could have contact lenses if we thought our son would keep to the cleaning regime.

Does anyone have a 10 year old wearing contact lenses already? Any advice on whether it is really feasible? I expect the cost will be greater, but with a son currently trying to rebel against his glasses and having also had to spend £80 recently on sports goggles which will have to be replaced if his prescription changes which would not be needed if he wore contact, I was wondering what true difference in cost there might be.

I'd appreciate any opinions on this as I'm currently waivering thanks.

Kimitatsu

Personally having an 11 and a 9 year old who wear glasses, I would doubt very much that any 10 year old would be clean enough to run through the daily regime of ensuring they were spotless.

I do understand your issues but the chances of eye infections would be high and then he would still have to wear his glasses. I am not an optician but I thought the reason that you could not prescribe to under 18's was that they grow so quickly that the shape of the eye changes?

My personal view would be that he needs to be a bit older to understand the implications of just how much goes into it - after all he wont be able to wear contacts ALL of the time anyway, wont be able to swim in them and I think there are rules about contact sports too.

There are also some pretty funky glasses around at the moment, and they are being seen more as a fashion accessory nowadays.

Good luck with it whatever you decide, fashion concious 10 year old kids are a nightmare!!

RoxieW

He will probably still need sports goggles as I wear contacts and have to be very careful when swimming not to get water in my eye. He'll also still need up to date glasses for evening/days when his eyes are sore/tired etc. I like to have a break from my contacts in the evenings as they get uncomfortable as the day wheres on. They can also be a real nightmare anywhere that has aircon so if his school has this it might be a no no. My eyes would be bright red and streaming from the aircon in the office.

hmb503

Firstly, £80 is far too much for prescription goggles. There are many places which do them for far less, such as Newitts (http://www.newitts.com/product/EE-OC/Optical_Swimming_Goggles.htm).
Secondly, wearing lenses at 10 is very young, it depends whether you think the risks outweigh the benefits. My friend was severely bullied for wearing glasses, so the optician prescribed them at 10, it changed her life and 15 years later she is still wearing them successfully. I've been wearing mine since I was 15 without a problem, but my brother (who wasn't allowed them until he was 16) is now unable to wear lenses ever again - depends on your eyes and the lenses you wear and probably a multitude of other factors.
Hope that helps!
Heather

aimex

i got some prescripton goggles from a seller on ebay and theyre really good! as for contacts my sister had contacts from age of 11 and managed fine. i guess it is down to the individual really

tuggy

I had contacts from age 13 and they improved my self confidence no end. if my parents hadnt let me get them i'd have been very sad why not get dailies, they there are no worries about cleaning regimes. as long as he washes hands before putting them in.

Also maybe say he has to remove them as soon as he's home from school to let his eyes "breath" (wearing contacts too many hours a day is bad for your eyes)

mishkanorman

I worked in a contact lens department for many years and one of our opticians would happily fit lenses for under 18 BUT we had to be very thorough with the 'teach' side of things and drill into them the importance of hygiene. (boys especially )

If you are doing this to try and cut down on costs-dont. He will still need specs (as a contact lens wearer you probably know this) but also he will probably waste quite a few lenses in the first few months due to handling, tearing them etc so start up costs can be quite high,


From a confidence point of view, ive worn specs since i was 8 and have been fitted with contact lenses but choose not to wear them. My specs get me noticed and im always getting compliments on them. Perhaps, for now, let him spend the extra on a flashy new pair of specs and get him used to the forever-ness of them ???

good luck

mishka

genieuk

My Prescription is +6.5 for both eyes and I wear contacts only gas permeable ones suit me cannot get on with daily or soft lenses. My two youngest 8 and 5 have a similar prescription if not stronger. I would personally not get contacts for them until they are at least 14 if not older. There eyes are still developing just like the rest of their body, i still have to make sure they have had a wash and cleaned their teeth.

lawrie28

Evening All,

The WIfe has lenses with a base curve of 8.7/14.0. Asda opticians seem to think there are not many lenses she can use???? something about having a very big flat eye. They let her use acuvue advance fortnightlies, but think some others may be better, dry out slower, but they cost a fortune - don't know what they are, but they wont give her a free trial they cost that much.

any ideas?

BernadetteN

Thanks for all the kind and thoughtful responses.

The goggles he has are for rugby and other rough and tumble sports so that is why they cost so much - my son swims a minimum 4 hours a week and he is very good at losing goggles in the changing rooms and at swimming galas so I haven't ever gone down that route in providing him with swimming goggles!

I'm going to let him read the responses and then take him around the opticians here in Brussels as the glasses here are far more trendy than most UK glasses. It helps he's left a UK class with 26 girls in it and is now in a Belgian class with only 6 girls in it and 20 boys as he got alot of female attention, not all postive, regarding his glasses from the 26 girls in his UK class and that is where his anxiety regarding wearing glasses has started.