How young can a/did your DC start wearing contact lenses?

[AuContraire]

Wondering how young is too young for a (very sensible) child to be able to start wearing contacts occasionally, eg for sport.

DC is 8, and has quite a high prescription, but glasses are a bit of an issue for sports etc. Wondering at what age the opticians would consider allowing this, and showing DC how to use them? (I don't wear them so can't help with this).

How young did your child start, and do you think they could have managed earlier?

They've been recommended for my 11yo.
Some of her friends had them for sports this year, so 10.

We are very new to the glasses world though.

I was 13 and they said no younger, however this was 25+ years ago. It depends on the child, too - they have to be sensible and diligent. Lenses (and their upkeep) aren't for everyone, especially at that age

Can't help with contact lenses but you can buy specific sports glasses, DD wears them for rugby. They are sort of cross between goggles and glasses, more flexible arms and have padding around the eye so as not to cause issues when tackling.

Admittedly she won't wear them for other sports or PE and makes do with her glasses as she doesn't live how they look.

I can't remember when I started, but sometime in secondary. Likely 12 or 13. DC1 is on MiSight contacts and she started at 9. I think an 8yo can do it if he can manage to take the contacts on and off. They are daily disposables so as long as he's washed his hands properly before handling the contacts, it's fine.

Me too!
I also remember being told that contacts stop your eyesight deteriorating as quickly as they do with glasses, so that's another positive.
I think they offer soft and gas permeable at different ages, but I never got on with gas permeable.

Talk to your optician. Those of us who started many years ago would have started on non-disposable contacts. We had the same pair until our prescriptions changed. Very much like glasses.

My one advice from getting my DC to do it at 9 was that she's very squeamish about touching her eyes. I practiced with her pulling her own upper lids open and touching her eyes with the other finger. It does help I know how to do it. It's harder for a younger child I believe because their contacts are larger in size comparatively so they need to pull their eyes open more. But she was quite determined to learn it. Also, at the beginning, she's lost contacts at school which I have no idea how she managed. (I have never lost a pair from my eyes while wearing them).

@Love51 @TallulahBetty I think I had gas permeable when I was young. They were quite hard and very different from today's disposable contacts. I found DC's dailies even softer than my monthlies. They are very easily torn if handled. She's torn through many pairs in the beginning. She's now very good at it. Took a while.

Thanks, I'll start getting DC to touch their eyes and see if they are squeamish about it, that's a good idea.

It really is child dependent. I would make an appointment at the opticians as there are such variety of contacts that may be suitable for your child. I had the 30 day option as a young teen which worked brilliantly for me.

@AuContraire if you aren't a contacts wearer, talk to a optician first. You don't want them to damage their eyes. (And I'm not sure if non contacts wearer know how to do it safely)? It's actually slightly weird feeling without the lens on your finger. The lens is very smooth but our fingers are very rough. But I found DC has a reflex to quickly close her eyes when the finger gets near.

Our optician asked for ds2 to come in, she did a few checks, gave him a trial pair.

What age was your DC?

DD has recently started age 11, we were told from age 9 is possible depending on the child but she wasn’t interested till now

She did find it tricky to learn to get them in. Eye size makes a big difference I think, smaller or deepset eyes makes it harder as the lens is large. However it finally clicked and she can now do it pretty easily.

The optician should do a “teach in” where they show your child how to get the lenses in and your child has a go there in the shop. If this is reasonably successful the optician will be able to order a bunch of trial lenses (free) to do more practising at home. So there’s plenty of chances to try before you commit iyswim.

I don’t think my older DD would have managed at 9 but my younger one could I reckon, depends on coordination and how much patience they have and motivation!!

Do ask optician, they will show your kid how to put it in safely. Don’t ask your DC to touch her eyes without wash of hands, drying of hands important due to bacteria etc etc.
Contact lens can start from 9 years old but really get guidance from optician. Is it a sport that is played regularly?
Swimming goggles and ski googles can have prescription nowadays.

I personally wouldn't get them to practice touching their eye with a bare finger. The finger is much rougher than a contact lense so can feel quite uncomfortable. The lense is very smooth and feels much better against the eye than a finger. Hope that makes sense 😂

My DS2 has had glasses since he was around 1yo. He started wanting to try contact November just gone and he'd 10. He's tried with them a few times, but really doesn't get on with them, so he's back to just using his glasses.

They need to be able to get them in and out themselves really and he struggled.

@ImthatBoleyngirl totally agree. It's only because DC didn't manage to put the lens on in the trial. She immediately shut her eyes when her finger went near. It's the optician that suggests we practice at home to get her out of the reflex she had. I know the difference between lens and finger. It took DC a while to get used to her finger approaching her eyes.

But I think she's on the squeemish side. I don't remember it being hard at all to put the lenses on. But I was in my early teens when I started.

DS2 started wearing contact at 11.

He occasionally still wears his glasses when at home but generally lenses.

He has always been a mature and sensible boy and so no issues with keeping them clean etc