Does your child wear glasses? Do they have prescription sunglasses too?

[TabithaTwitchet]

DD aged 3 has been wearing glasses for about a year. She is very longsighted.

Now that it is summer, I am wondering whether she should have sunglasses to protect her eyes - up to now she has just worn a hat to shade them, but we now live in a much sunnier place.

I am going to speak to the optician about what the options are, but was just wondering what others did - I reckon those lenses that go darker when it is brighter would be good, as it will mean she just has one pair and doesn't have to keep swapping between normal glasses and sunglasses. DH worried they will go dark at the wrong times, ie when we switch lights on in the evening etc.

Does anyone have any experience of this, and what did you do?

My DD wears normal glasses and doesn't have prescription sunglasses. She's never found it a problem but then its not really sunny in the UK that much (are you abroad)?

One of her friends has the reactive glasses and wears them all the time. I do notice that sometimes when she's inside they're still a bit dark but it doesn't bother her. Personally I don't think they look nice, I always associate them with creepy, dirty men but realise thats probably just me. I can see that they're better than sunglasses as if you have normal sunglasses you need to take them off if you go inside and then you woudn't be able to see.

I've worn glasses since I was 3 and managed without sunglasses.

My DD2 has normal glasses and prescription sunglasses but we had to argue with the hospital to get them. Apparently the Government don't like to fund sunglasses but as the condition my DD2 has means she is light sensitive her brilliant Cornea specialist signed the prescription anyway. Our argument was that the glasses helped DD2's vision, therefore she must wear them. So, when she goes outside, specially on sunny day's (and even some of the overcast days are still quite bright), should we take off the normal glasses and let her wear plain sunglasses, which would result in her not being able to see as well as she could with refraction or do we just keep her inside? Either scenario would hinder DD2's childhood. Hospital got it eventually but still had to take the Cornea doc to get shirty about it before we got them.

We got some lovely pink sunglass frames so they don't look any different to normal sunglasses (agree with Viva that the normal glasses frames with tinted lenses don't look too nice) and the part of the arms that go round the ears are mouldable so we can get the best fit and they don't slip off.

I would speak to your optician and see what they say. If you're abroad and it's usually quite sunny I would perhaps look into getting some prescription sunglasses. My DH has prescription sunglasses for when we go away because the bright glare gives him headaches. You might need to pay for them but the ones we got for DD2 would've only cost £30. I would've paid for DD2's myself but they just became a matter of principle after the 'oh no, you'll have to fight for sunglasses, the government don't like to fund them' reaction, and given the fact that they are necessity for my DD2.

We paid for dd to have prescription sunglasses, as the prescription from the hospital seems only to cover one pair at a time. I took the same view as NoodlesMam, that as the hospital have been very emphatic that dd needs to wear her glasses all the time - and as I didn't want her squinting into the sun - she needed prescription sunglasses.

Thanks, that's really helpful. We are abroad, so not sure whether it will be free, but there is certainly no way she could wear non-prescription sunglasses, she wouldn't be able to see!

Do you find your children keep asking to swap over glasses all the time/ refuse to wear one because they prefer the other pair or anything? Also I'm a bit concerned about glasses getting lost/damaged at nursery if she has more than one pair and has to swap over to go outside - children here are supposed to be responsible for their own stuff, can imagine DD crushing glasses into the bottom of her bag in her hurry to get ready to go outside.

I didn't used to give dd her sunglassses to take to pre-school - I reckoned that for the length of time they'd be outside (in the usual British summer) she could manage with her ordinary specs and a hat. The main reason for getting the sunglasses was for our summer holidays, which are usually in sunnier places with much stronger light.

She takes her sunglasses to school now. She's always been happy with her glasses and sunglasses because she has chosen them (with a small bit of, ahem, guidance). She hasn't yet lost a pair, but I would recommend getting a brightly-coloured case and sticking a conspicuous name label on it!

DD has been wearing glasses for about three years now. She used to ski a lot and the people in the resorts said she had to wear goggles or sunglasses. We had a pair of wrap around ones made for her.
I spoke to the opticial doctor we saw (nothing as simple as specsavers in Switzerland), he advised against reacttolight changing sunglasses but I can't remember why.
DD is older than your DD and thinks she looks dead cool with her sunny's on.
Glad I am not the only one who finds the colour changing ones creepy.

Dd has them. She wears them when the sun is v bright but not if it's just a brigh day iyswim. We paid about £20 from an optician.

I should add, when we lived in Bangkok, the opticians there advocated sunglasses to help prevent cataracts as people age. Not sure how true this was. Not necessarily prescription ones, just the darkened ones.

I need to get prescription glasses for DD2 as she wears glasses. We have just been talking about it.

Kreecher- my skin doctor here in Singapore has told me to wear always wear sunglasses outside as he has seen lots of eye problems caused by sun damage.

prescription sunglasses

We've got reactolite lenses for ds1 (aged 10) for much the same reason - a single pair, easier than constantly switching. I did check with the school that they were happy for him to have reactolites first.

It's not a cheap option - it actually worked out cheaper to have two separate pairs, but I'm glad I paid the extra. I have them too, and when you're wearing glasses all the time, it does reduce a lot of hassle.

My DD2 who is 8 wears transistions lense glasses and it just makes it so much easier having 1 pair of glasses.

Cost me £79 and she never has a problem with them going dark at the 'wrong' time.

She is over the moon with them. Said she couldn't imagine having to carry 2 pairs around on the off chance of sunshine.

I am an optometrist and it is advisable for children to have protective sunglasses. However the parents who actually order them are in the minority, possibly because they are fed up of trekking back and forth to have the regular ones repaired/replaced, never mind the sunglasses.

Now slightly puzzled ds has bi focals and iols (artifical lenses) and is 5 we have never been offered sunglasses from hospital and i have never thought of it but bright sunshine is a problem. And sorry to ask but what are transition glasses thanks.

My daughter is extremely long sighted and she just could not see without her glasses. She is now 8.

When we were on holiday with her when she was about 2 she got terrible sunglare. We kept sunglasses and sun hats on her permenantly after that which helped her alot.

She was diagnosed as needing glasses at 4 and a half and we constantly fought to get her sunglasses. We advised that the doctor we saw in the hospital on holiday advised she should always wear them but we still had to pay for the sunglasses.

One optician actually told us that sun glasses were not available on prescription for children, because parents would just leave the sun glasses on their kids in the house etc. when they should have their normal glasses on.

We did pay for sun glasses for her a few years ago. They are now broken, scratched etc.

I know this is probably a bit off the wall, but my DS2 has a "clip-on" sunglasses, that go over the lenses of his usual glasses. You can then flip them upwards if you go indoors etc so it doesn't get too dark. I seem to remember them being used a fair bit by adults in the early 80's, just in case I'm not describing them very well!

We got ours from the optician that did his prescription glasses (as sunglasses as well was going to be around £80!). They were around £6/8.

oh latteaddict they sound good - ds will quite like them or destroy them but worth a go thanks

And very slightly off topic, DD has a pair of prescription swimming goggles. They cost about 25 pounds from specsavers or the other one.

Wow, I always imagined goggles would be really expensive!

I did ask DS if he wanted some once, and he just laughed at the very thought.

I was just about to start a thread asking about sunglasses. DD1 can't see without her glasses (also has prescription goggles) and was going to ask at clinic on Tuesday but wasn't sure what they would say.

I think we would have to pay - she already has two pairs of prescription glasses (one for regular wear and a spare pair for her patch) but that would be okay. She is already, at the age of 4, very used to swapping her glasses over and has never lost them. Only one broken pair in 3+ years and that was another child wrenching them off her face at playgroup.

(Kreecher - you seem to have traveled so much - I often feel jealous of this despite knowing nothing about what has taken you to so many places.)