Can contact lenses prevent worsening of short-sightedness in children?

[saadia]

Ds (10) has been recommended contact lenses as his short sightedness is getting worse quite rapidly. The optician said that this is because he is growing but she strongly recommended gas permeable hard lenses on the basis that they would prevent his eyes from getting worse. Does anyone have experience of this?

Am not sure what to do as they are very expensive but obviously worth it if we can slow down the short-sightedness.

I am pretty short sighted, but got hard lenses when I was 13 which did slow down the changes in my sight. Sadly my optician retired, I moved away form home and took years to find a good optician again, so suffered with badly fitted soft lenses and bottletop glasses.

10 is quite young though, will he be able to look after them properly - the hassle of the cleaning regime, being confident in handling them?

Thanks LeapingOverTheWall that's helpful. Ds us very sensible and responsible so I think he would look after them. I'm just wondering if there would be any longer term benefit and from what you say there certainly could be. We also have to factor in the cost. Will have to think about it a bit as ds1 is also short sighted and could also benefit.

I also got gas permeable lenses around the age of 12. My eyes continued to deteriorate but I have no way of knowing if they would have been worse without the lenses. I have certainly never been told this. What they did say was that my eyes would continue to deteriorate until age 30 and this has turned out to be true (was -7 at age 10 and now -11 for a few years).

Also I suddenly became intolerant to the gas permeable lenses in my mid 20s; apparently this is common. I've had toric lenses for a few years now and they seem to suit me.

Yes this is true. But, you have to factor in the risks of lens wear, ie potentially going blind and weigh up whether it would be worth it. I don't know truthfully if a ten year old would be scrupulous enough to keep their lenses clean and remember to take them out for sleeping, swimming etc.

Orthokeratotic lenses could be an option, you wear these overnight, they flatten the corneas as you sleep then the effect wears off during the day.

I also got hard lenses at the age of about 11 (before I went to secondary school). This was more than 30 years ago so gas permeable wasn't an option. I think they slowed the deterioration in my sight as Percephone describes - ie. slowed but didn't stop it completely. They made a huge difference to me and I was very careful with the whole cleaning regime. (no one ever told me to take them out for swimming).

30 years later I am still wearing gas permeable lenses without problems, and I have finally discovered some upside to my -11.5 prescription as I am the only person my age who doesn't yet need reading glasses! My only advice would be to find a good optician that you trust (get recommendations from friends if possible). I go to an independent contact lens specialist based in a local opticians.

Thank you everyone your posts are really helpful. The optician recommended ortho-k lenses for ds. She was quite adamant that they would benefit him and said if it was her child she would definitely get them. I just don't want to put him through all the hassle if there is no permanent benefit.