14 year old dd wants contact lenses

[cuckooclock]

My dd wants to get contact lenses. She doesn't need to wear her glasses all the time, mainly for blackboard, tv etc but due to laziness she puts them on in the morning and wears them all day. She has worn glasses since about 8 years.

Now she wants contact lenses, not for everyday, but for sports, going out etc etc. As I have no experience of contact lenses and haven't really got a clue, I need some advice.

I am worried about the cleanliness aspect and will she actually take them out at the end of the day (she is a lazt teen who can't always be bothered to take make up off!). Anyone any experience? Any hints much appreciated. I have agreed that we can discuss with optician but looking for practicals. Thanks.

[fruitshootsandheaves]

I got contact lenses about that age. I stopped wearing them about 9 years ago due to itchy eyes during pregnancy and just couldn't be bothered with the faffing about. However I loved having them as a teenager it made me feel more confident.

I did clean them regularly and I think you will find that she will or they start to irritate. Alternatively you can get the disposable ones that don't need cleaning. you just throw them away and put new ones in.

There are loads of different sorts for different lengths of wear. I think you should speak to the optician about the different sorts.

[jazzchickens]

Hi

I'm very short sighted and have worn contact lenses for years. I now have the ones that you can sleep in (replace once a month) and find them fantastic as I can see the clock in the morning!. However, I don't think your dd is in need of these type at the moment. I would recommend some daily disposables that she could just wear every now and again (as you say for sport and going out)and wear glasses in between. They don't need to be cleaned as they are disposable so they should be right up her teenage street

[DorisVinyard]

My dd (just turned 14) has had hers for about 3 months and absolutely loves them. She has the daily disposables as I was worried about the hygiene aspect (please look into this before deciding - disposables are more expensive but after reading up on all potential problems I decided it was worth it).

[Bonsoir]

What's wrong with her sight? Disposables are much better for teens who are lazy about hygiene.

[DurhamDurham]

My daughter got contacts at 12, she wanted daily disposables but she has a high prescription so had to settle for monthly. She learnt how to look afer them v quickly. I had her terrified with horror stories about people putting in dirty lenses.

It did wonders for her confidence and was well worth the money. She's 17 now and six months ago decided to go back to glasses as she'd seen some new pairs which she loved.

[Guacamole]

I've worn them since I was 14... I currently have a kind that you can put in and take out 28 days later. I don't, but I can.
I was excellent at cleaning mine at that age, but now I'm awful, but there are lots of single 'one-step' solutions so that it's easy to clean if you're not too lazy, if you're really concerned go for disposables.

[Grumpla]

I began wearing contacts when I was 15.

I was very very very shortsighted - am now almost at the edge of what they can correct :( so to go from very thick heavy lensed specs to contacts was AMAZING!!!

My optician wouldn't start me on them any younger than that as they wanted to wait for my eyes to stabilise first, so this may be an issue for your DD.

I wore hard gas permeable lenses for the first six or seven years. You take them out every night, clean them, store them. They are the 'best' for your eyes in some ways as they actually hold the cornea in shape (I had astigmatism as well as short sightedness) and the GP ones let loads of oxygen in onto your eyeball. HOWEVER, if you are a bit lax at looking after them you can get eye infections fairly easily and if you have a few drinks and fall asleep in them you can end up in big trouble as they can float around and get wedged at the top of your eye, very sore and painful.

They work out cheaper than daily disposables (just) but still need replacing every 12 months - tbh you might find it easier to spread the costs.

I moved to dailies after losing the third lens at a festival in as many months - I was doing a lot of travelling, camping etc and decided that it just wasn't worth the hassle and the expense of having to replace lost lenses.

Since moving to daily lenses I have not had a single sty or infection (used to get a couple every year) and when you are travelling etc it is SO much easier.

I do feel guilty about the waste though - all those plastic pods in landfill!

I would definitely start by taking your daughter to the optician, talking through the expense etc. It is not cheap - I pay about £65 for 3 months supply and you still need glasses for morning / evening etc.

When did she last have her eyes tested? If she is wearing them all day with no headaches / problems it could be that she does need them 'full time' after all. Your prescription can change really quickly when you are still growing so it is worth making sure you are up to date on this.

[IloveJudgeJudy]

I have worn contacts since I was 16. Started off with hard, then gas permeable which I didn't get on with at all, then changed to daily disposables which I loved and wondered why I hadn't changed before. That was because of my fear of infection. I have never had an infection. I now have monthly disposables which are fine.

I would go to an optician. Tbh I used to always go to a sole practitioner, but have been going to Specsavers for the last 15 years and have found them fantastic. You have to find an optician that you/your daughter is comfortable with.

I would let her have them. It will give her so much confidence (it did with me).

[MarionCole]

DD has had daily disposables since she was 11. She just wears them on school days so that she can see the board (she refuses to wear her glasses). She gets on with them fine. She's on a monthly contract so she gets regular check ups. We went for daily disposables because you don't have to worry about keeping them clean. I've been wearing lenses now for about 20 years and the optician says my eyes are still healthy.

[cuckooclock]

Thank you all for the very useful input. DD is shortsighted, but not too bad really. She does have trendy fashion frames and isn't really too bothered about wearing her glasses, I think she is just looking for something different. She went without glasses once recently and someone commented on how nice she looked so I think she wants to go glasses free!

From what we have read I think we might initially go for some daily disposable ones (sorry landfill), and then see how she goes. I am not sure I could poke myself in the eye though. It may be that she doesn't wear them too often so it doesn't work out too expensive.

Her eyes were last tested last summer and there was only very minimal change from the previous year. We will make an appointment to discuss it with the optician. I think they give free consultation & 1 week free trial so we can see if that works.

Any more experiences good or bad? Thank you

[florapup]

My son has worn daily disposable contact lenses since he was 13. We chose the daily disposable ones because I was worried that the wouldn't take the hygiene side of things seriously! They have been a huge success - no problems at all. I would highly recommend them.

[Danthe4th]

My dd had them age 11 and got on absolutely fine with them, she still wears them now age 15 but tends not to mind wearing her glasses now.
But we were told not to wear them for longer than 8 hours a day due to her age, and to try only to wear them for 3/4 days a week. She wore them much more than that as she hated glasses but never really had a problem.

[Asinine]

I had them from age 12 in the 80s. No problem, optician told mum it would stabilise my eyesight when I was growing.

[iskra]

I wasn't allowed them when I was a teen. My parents thought I should stand up to the social pressure that made me think I shouldn't wear glasses . Do let her if she wants them.

Do emphasise to her to take her lenses out - get an optician to give her a horror story if possible - i used to sleep in my lenses regularly & eventually gave myself an eye infection through it which has left scarring on my cornea. Can still wear lenses but have apparently ruled myself out of laser surgery (should I have had a spare 5 grand anyway...)

[Ponders]

Lenses are wonderful for sport, going out etc. DS2 is 17 & has been desperate for lenses since he was about 10 - he plays football & glasses are not good for that! Dailies are around £1 a pair so used occasionally the cost isn't too bad.

Unfortunately he has an incomplete tear film which means whenever he tried the daily disposables they sucked all the moisture out of his eye & had to be peeled off (ouch) - but this week he has been told they've improved enough for a 2-week trial (hooray!)

Definitely let her have a go with dailies, but do bang on as much as poss about the risks of damaging her corneas if she takes any chances with them.

I also have older kids in their 20s who have used gas-permeable, dailies & monthlies & all get on fine with them. As they get older they don't mind so much about wearing specs so their eyes get a rest.

[shesparkles]

My 13 year old started wearing lenses when she was 12. She has monthly disposables due to a strong prescription and took to them like a duck to water. No issues with cleaning etc, as she knows if she gets an infection it means that

a) she will get NO sympathy
b) she'll have to wear her glasses!

[fumanchu]

I am extremely short-sighted and have worn GP lenses for 33 (!) years with no problems, though sadly I now need reading glasses as well. As others have said I would recommend a good optician - I got lenses at 17 as before that my eyesight was constantly deteriorating - I think it stabilised when I stopped growing? So your DD should get her eyes checked regularly.

[ChasingSquirrels]

I started with them at 12 (mid-80's), initially with just long term wear soft ones, and when I could afford them after uni I went onto daily disposables.

Personally, I didn't care for them properly, and due to this and the resultant lack of oxygen reaching my eyes through lenses on which deposits had built up, I now have some damage to my eyes (broken capillary blood vessels) - this was the main reason for going to dailies, as they let more oxygen through. Since then I have had very little further deterioration.

This wouldn't be an issue with dailies as you don't need to clean them just throw them! (I can't think they are a massive landfill issue though, although maybe production is more of an environmental issue)

[Ponders]

The lenses themselves won't be a problem, but the little plastic dishes they come in, & the lids, might be - unless they're made of the easily recyclable stuff?

[TheReturnoftheSmartArse]

At 14 I'm sure she's responsible enough to know the dangers and look after them, but disposables might be better if she's not that committed and doesn't intend to wear them every day. My DDs have been wearing them since they were 10 years old and have no problems at all, and I can't pretend either of them is particularly dedicated to cleanliness! Ask your optician - they'll definitely know what to recommend.

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

I have worn them since I was about the same age. Once you have your prescription, have a look at daysoftlenes on line. Really cheap!!

[quirkydragon]

I started wearing contact lenses for short sight aged nine! I had been wearing glasses since I was five (nightmare for poor Mum as I kept losing them!) and my sight was getting worse so rapidly my optician said I would have virtually no useful sight left by the time I was 21.
However he had a theory that contact lenses, if worn early enough, could slow down the rate of deterioration. This was in the 1980's, so I started out with 'hard' lenses, but later moved to gas permeable.
It took practice to put the lenses in my eyes at first (I think about 20 goes for the 1st eye and 15 for the other!)but apart from that, and the odd 'getting some grit or a hair behind the lens - ouch!' - they have been an absolute godsend, much better than glasses, especially for peripheral vision, and they, unlike glasses, don't steam up when you go from cold outside to a warm room!

You do have to be careful about keeping them clean, and I have permanently lost about four... once I hit my head on the guinea-pig hutch and one flipped out, never to be seen again! And it is wise to wear goggles when swimming. But overall, very much worth it, I'm now late 30s and my sight has stabilised - my optician says it will probably be the same for about 10 years. I am his successful experiment! And, as I am an illustrator who draws and paints a lot, I will be forever grateful.

I think trying out disposables would be a good idea - see how she gets on with them, rather than investing in gas permeable ones only for her to decide she'd rather not!

[fitflopqueen]

I was the same age as your daughter when I started wearing lens many years ago, had hard ones and still wear gas permeable on a daily basis. also have used disposables from time to time for holidays etc but vision is not quite as good with them!. And I guess I was a grubby teenager, had a horse etc but haven't ever had an infection or any other problem.

[Ponders]

oh, well, I started with hard lenses at about 17 over 40 years ago - there was nothing else then! Wore them for over 10 hours every day, for at least 20 years, even slept in them sometimes, & hygiene wasn't perfect

then changed to gp maybe 20 years ago

then about 10 years ago my eyes went funny, so stopped using them at all, but that was deterioration of lenses (inside the eye) not corneas. So if you're lucky you won't do your eyes any harm (but not a good idea to tell a teenager that!)