How much do you pay for your child’s contact lenses?

[ItsStillWork]

Dd wants to try contact lenses, she will need the myopia lenses as she has them in her current glasses.

specsavers are telling me that the nhs don’t cover any money towards the contact lenses but they can’t give me an estimated cost for them.

ive asked them for a rough estimate at what I would be looking at a month but they said they couldn’t tell me.

her appointment isn’t for another week yet and she’s desperate to know if they’re an option for us but I can’t tell her if I don’t know what they would roughly be.

how much do you pay for your child’s contact lenses?

I think different specsavers can very, I’d have a ring around x

£42 for 30 pairs of disposables

I believe it was about £30 per month from but that was 8 years ago. Once DD turned 16, we ordered them online and they cost £28 for 3 months.

It's a shame there's no voucher available for DC under 18 to pay towards contact lenses. My DD's played sports and it was so much easier to play in contact lenses.

Oh, I forgot, at the beginning bought dailys as I thought they'd be easier to deal with at a younger age. They'd only wear them a few times sper week when they needed them for PE, sports practice or matches.

Do you make your children earn the money towards the contact lenses with jobs round the house etc?

this is a discussion we’re having at the minute and dd is not very keen on having chores to do to earn the money for them

DS has myopia lenses, I pay £180 for 180 pairs. It should be 3 months worth, but DS tends not to wear them at the weekend, so should last a bit longer.
They are trickier to put in than normal contact lenses, and took DS a few weeks (and quite a few visits to the opticians) to completely get the hang of them, but he got there. We use our local independent optician. They are not the cheapest, but have been super helpful and patient with DS.

My son has used the myopic management overnight lenses for years, from a Northern Ireland chain of opticians. It is one set of lenses that last the full year. He found them really difficult at the start, lots of tears getting used to them, but now wouldn't be without them. They seem to have worked for him, delaying the deterioration in his eyesight. We only pay about £20 per month.

I don’t, it is not DSs fault he needs glasses/contacts.

No I wouldn’t do that.

It’s her eyesight/health/teenage self esteem and image.

Priceless IMHO. Last thing she needs is an emotional issue developing. If you can afford it - I wouldn’t think twice - see it as an investment in her future self esteem. It’s tough for teenagers out there - do what you can to support her. Maybe save some money with her wearing her glasses at home at the weekends?

I have found Boots to be a million times better than Specsavers. The optician at Boots let me try several different brands of lenses to find the best ones for me. Mine are toric lenses. I think I pay around £26 per month for monthlies, £42 for dailies. These prices include fitting, check-ups etc. Might be cheaper for a child as check-ups are free, presumably.

I went to Specsavers first. The lenses they gave me were blurred, but they wouldn't let me try any others as I'd "had my free sample"! So I went to Boots.

DD's are expensive (think it's £70 a month) due to her prescription. I don't make DD 'earn' hers at all. She needs them and being very myopic (greater than -5.00) puts you at much greater risk of retinal detachment, glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration. I wouldn't charge her for her needs if she had any long term medical conditions.

Monthly ones for £16 per month for my daughter and she has astigmatism in both eyes

There’s a massive price difference between glasses and contacts that’s why dh is moaning about the price.

im going off topic here but he was brought up that you work for everything you want in life and nobody is handed anything for free.

we can afford them, he just thinks she should earn them as glasses are much cheaper.

i didn't realise they were more difficult to put in than normal contacts. I think we could do something were she wears them some of the time but not all the time

i didn't realise they were more difficult to put in than normal contacts

Unless I've misunderstood, myopic just means short sighted, so you can see things close up, but far away is blurry. I'm the same and have a negative script- -2.75 and -3.50 from memory. I also have an astigmatism, but always worn regular contacts (Alcon dailies total currently). Maybe the contacts people are referring to that slow progression are harder to put in?

Keypoints are not to sleep in daily contacts and always remove them at night. Also also to never use tap water to wash them and put them in- always sterile/contact solution.

You won’t get the benefit of the myopia ones if you don’t wear them all the time. My kids did not find them hard to put in, one needed more help than the other but there were no issues.

It’s £32 a month for her eye health.

go for it

Mine cost 56 guineas - which was a lot of money in 1967.
Hard lenses, non gas permeable. They do take a few weeks to get used to.
I got through 3 pairs until I finally didn't need them them about 2 years back because I had cataract surgery. So I'd say about £450 (£8 a year) in total plus the cost of the cleaning solution.

£24 a month for 5 pairs a week - he doesn’t wear them at weekends.

i was sceptical at first but he gets on really well with them.

bonus we’ve also discovered is it includes contact lens/eye health checks, as well as eye tests. It also includes one half price pair of glasses per year- we alternate between glasses and prescription sunglasses, both essential since he started driving.

Oh and I can also “pause” the subscription if we end up with too many- school hols for example he doesn’t wear them so I get a few months off payment then.

I really think that your DH is way off with this attitude and you need to stand up to him and advocate for your DD.

This is for both her physical and emotional health at a sensitive and critical time in her development. That’s what we are here for as parents.

You’ve already said she is a good kid, doesnt cost you any money on activities, you rarely buy her clothes, she is helpful and works hard at school - sounds like she has ‘earned’ it already. You said she doesn’t want to be the only kid with braces and glasses at secondary school - so has already expressed her concerns - from the outside if you can afford it she’s earned it. I think from your posts you agree with this - just need to push back on your DH.

DS has myopia management ones from specsavers, they are £36/month for 30 pairs. They took a few days to get used to, and he says he can actually see better close up without them! (I find this but I probably need varifocals, so I was surprised he said the same)
I was slightly disappointed though because at the 6 month check up 1 eye had got worse since wearing them
He was told he had to wear them all day 6 dats a week, for them to be effective.

Do you make your children earn the money towards the contact lenses with jobs round the house etc?

No. It's a medical need imo.

I'm terribly short sighted. I can't read shampoo bottles in the shower. I'll pay any amount of money (almost) to help ds avoid the same.

I saw someone else post that they didn't think the special lenses were helping her child's short sight. I think they are helping ds. His prescription has stayed fairly stable during the teenage years which is the time when eyesight usually changes the most.

I guess the only time I might have asked them to pay is if they wanted vanity contact lenses to make their eyes a different colour.

But we're lucky, we can afford it. If money is an issue then that's different. Food and heating is more important than contact lenses.

I definitely wouldn’t make my child pay for something that would help her eye health. I would go for the best option possible. I think your DH is being I reasonable.

For those saying you have to wear them every day - you can also get glasses that support myopia control. These are also expensive, but I got them as they mean DS can still have the support even if he’s not wearing the lenses.
Myopia control is not a cheap option, but I think worth it if it stops or slows the an increase in short sightedness.

I don’t because contacts, especially ones to slow down myopia, are healthcare and I feel it is a parents’ place to pay for eyes as much as I pay for the dentist or orthodontist.