Contact lenses for children

[Suffdad79]

Anyone have any experience with their kids wearing contact lenses? I have worn them for the last 20 years and now the kids are wondering about wearing them too. Both my children have sadly inherited my eye sight and wear glasses. My ds (nearly 9) especially struggles with glasses because they are a pain for playing and they do seem to have affected his self-confidence.
My googling so far has found that there isn't really an age limit as such - it's more about whether the optician can satisfy themselves that the child can manage to put them in and take them out safely and follow basic cleaning instructions.
Going back to my school days, I know I would have jumped at the chance to wear contacts instead of glasses so I can only see the good in letting my children have the opportunity. What is everyone else's experience of this?

[TheOtherSock]

I started wearing lenses at 11 - those 18 month vial lenses that you had to take really good care of because they cost a fortune to replace which led to me just giving them a lick and sticking them back in when they fell out on the hockey pitch. I picked up how to use them really quickly and never had any eye problems. Perhaps start off with disposables so she can learn how to put them in and take them out first, before getting into the whole cleaning/storage faff?

[TheOtherSock]

Sorry, he, not she.

[TondelayaDellaVentamiglia]

speak to your optician about it....there's no reason not, as you say

dailies are probably the simplest option...fresh pair as required, just clean hands and technique required.

the "want" does have to come from them ...i am terribly shortsighted, as are the children, all three have tried lenses, but only one wears them full time.

[TheOtherSock]

The main difficulty I can foresee with sport is that unless he wears them a lot (i.e. he only wears them when he's going to be playing, perhaps due to cost of daily disposables), it's tricky to deal with distance perception so ball sports might be tricky… but he'll get used to that.

[Suffdad79]

Yes, dailies would seem the obvious choice - I tend to get them for holidays as they're less hassle and I don't mind losing the odd one in the pool from time to time! Generally, I wear fortnightlies.
DD (she's 11 in a couple of weeks) isn't that fussed although she knows she has the option - she lacks nothing in the self-confidence department though. DS is definitely the one who's struggling I think and I just want him to have options really. He isn't as keen on doing fun activities as he used to be and even taking his glasses off is not ideal as he then complains that he can't see.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

what do they wear glasses for? long or short sighted? astigmatism?

[Thirtyrock39]

My husbands family have severe myopia and nephew and sil wore lenses from age 2. My daughter has prescription -18 and has lenses prescribed since age 7 she could have had them much younger- nephew wears them all the time no probs (age 4 now) my daughter wears them maybe 2 or 3 days. I'm not convinced her vision is any better with lenses (though prescription is better) and she does sometimes get sore eyes or they fall out at school so I'm not mad keen on them but the ophthalmologists are keen for her to continue with them as her eyesight is so weak and I wear lenses as an adult so know the benefits . I think secondary school age probably better as they can be responsible for the cleaning etc and putting them in and out.
Just as an add on if one of the sports they like is swimming you are not supposed to swim with lenses ( I do but keep face out of water)

[RockNRollNerd]

Look at Ortho K lenses as well, I've been wearing them for over 2 years now and think they are brilliant. You put them in at bedtime and take them out in the morning so no faff with losing one during the day etc. Cleaning etc is important as they're not disposable and you have to wear them every night but for me they've worked out much better than disposables which I found dried out a lot. It also avoids issues with swimming as you don't have the lenses in during the day.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Rocks, that's why I was asking what the sight issues are. My dd has ortho-k. There is some evidence that it can slow down myopia in children.

[PossumInAPearTree]

Dd has worn lenses since she was 13. Monthly with spec savers which costs £18 a month. Dailies worked out more expensive however I've just ordered a box of 30 disposable ones for £12 I think off the internet so will see how this goes. Daysoft I think the company is called.

With the monthly ones she would run out before the new box came every three months. She would have dropped one or torn one at some point.

[Suffdad79]

They're both short-sighted, the same as me. Swimming is not really a problem for them without glasses, it's more ball games and contact sports that the glasses seem to hold them back from.
It's good to know that there are lots of kids out there who do wear them as I imagine it won't then be a surprise to the optician when I discuss it with them.
As an aside, I am a bit naughty with wearing my lenses when I swim - I wear goggles though. My eyesight is so poor that I genuinely think it would be dangerous for me to not be able to see what the kids are up to when they're more than a few metres away!

[dontbesillyhenry]

£22 a month for daily disposables from spec savers. I'm considering them for DS. Six months ago his prescription showed he was mildly short sighted. Now due to not wearing his glasses because of teasing his eye sight is very bad

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

if your budget can manage it and you can find an ortho-k specialist I think it could be worth you investigating it. Have a google and see what you think.

[dontbesillyhenry]

I'd never even heard of these- amazing!

[user1484040234]

I would also suggest Ortho-K night lenses. My daughter has used them for 2 years (she's 14) . She is sporty and night lenses means you don't have to worry about swimming etc, which has been great. Her eye sight hasn't changed and is 20/20 on tests. Teenage years are usually the time when myopia gets rapidly worse, I'm convinced that it's the lenses that have kept her eyesight stable. If you are in London I recommend the Institute of Optometry at the Elephant and Castle.

[user1484040234]

Actually it's 3 years since my daughter got Ortho-K, she was 11. I think a 9 year old, with some supervision at first would be fine with them.

[Primaryteach87]

I had daily disposables from 12. It really changed my life in a positive way. I was rubbish at sitting on my glasses etc so would often be very very unable to see in classes and really impacted my confidence. So I'd say it was a good thing to try! I would suggest only doing dailies as the likelihood of alergic reactions or problems is much much less.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

there is a discussion about myopia control here

[Suffdad79]

The ortho-k lenses sound amazing! I will definitely look into those too. Thanks for the info!

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

just don't faint at the cost - I had to view it as something like private long term physio - it will hopefully have a long term impact, but it may not, but it's worth trying.

[Suffdad79]

What was the cost if you don't me asking?

[RockNRollNerd]

Mine are £40 a month plus solution (buy in bulk online or Costco). They're definitely not cheap but on the other hand I don't need glasses and prescription sunglasses any more and it includes full aftercare (can ring optician and see them if ever I need to), new set of lenses every 6 months plus 1 free replacement lens a year if needed, checkups etc.

I was paying c. £30 a month for disposables under the Boots scheme before I got Ortho K, plus new glasses/sunglasses every 1-2 years so overall it's a bit more pricey but not eye wateringly so when you work it out over a couple of years. It will however seem a big jump if you're used to free eye test and massively discounted specs for kids using the NHS voucher and high street promos etc.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I pay £50/ month all in with two checks a year and one free replacement.

I try to justify it in terms of the cost of eye surgery.

[RockNRollNerd]

OhYouBadBadKitten is that one replacement lens a year or one full new set a year? Interesting the different deals opticians seem to do. Looks like I pay less per month but then the solutions are between £10-£15 a month depending on if I'm buying bulk at Costco vs dashing into Boots when they've got no deals. I get a new pair of lenses every six months which is good as I do notice they don't feel as good towards the end of the period.

Do you use deep protein remover on them each month? I tend to as otherwise they feel a bit 'sticky' over time. I also buy drops to wet them in a morning as I don't have time to be wandering around waiting for the tear film to form before I get in the shower.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

two sets a year and an extra lens if you lose one.