Ortho-K care plan for 8 year old cost comparison

[Londonbabyland]

Looking at Ortho-K night lenses as an alternative active to glasses for an 8 year old. They aren't offered on NHS (but maybe vouchers could help towards costs), so if you found some good plans out there,I'd appreciate the pointers.

I think my son pays about £50 a month for his including all solutions and examinations plus 2 new sets of lenses a year. He's had them since he was 13, now 28, and they have been brilliant. The main thing is to find a local optician who will prescribe them which may not be easy as they require special training.

I started Ortho K lenses when I was 8 and now I'm 29. They are pricey, around £83 a month, but they really have been great, especially as I am sporty. Find a local optician who are Ortho K trained. And at the start give your DC a tonne of grace. Putting firm lenses in your eye can be quite distressing at first and the whole process does require you to get used to them!

@Numberwang66 thanks for sharing, did you learn to use them yourself at age 8 or there's a period of parental involvement? Wondered if it's better to start off with spectacles and introduce ortho when a bit older (when adolescence kicks in). Did you have a trial period before committing to the full plan?
Has your vision actually improved over this period?

@mateysmum seems like a decent price. Inded, a few opticians I checked didn't offer them (including big chains),so still in research.
Has his vision got any better over time?

Hard to tell exactly if his vision has improved as he would need to stop wearing the lenses for weeks to be sure. What I do know is that in 15 years, his prescription has barely changed. If he was wearing normal lenses or glasses I would have expected it to change significantly.
DS wore glasses until he was about 13 when it became really difficult to play rugby in specs. He had difficulty inserting the larger soft lenses and actually found the harder ortho k ones much easier to use. Yes they do require a bit of adjustment, but because they are used overnight it's not like wearing hard lenses during the day. I have worn gas permeable lenses for over 50 years!!!! so I was able to help him.
Honestly, if you can find a good optician and your son can get used to putting the lenses in, I really recommend them. We are lucky as we have an excellent one in my Somerset town but I know they aren't that common.

MiSight lenses are a better option TBH unless his cyl is too high.

@mateysmum thank you!

@jetlag92 MySight are only daytime from what I can see.

I learnt to do them myself but my Mum chaperoned me for the first couple of months. I was quite a stroppy kid so I have real memories of being quite belligerent about it haha but all was fine! Trial period sounds good.

My eyesight is really bad (-4) and hasn't got any worse through the 20 years which is pretty crazy. If anything, it was improved by 0.2 in one eye but it's so slight I would be none the wiser.

Yes, you just put them in in the morning and take out at night, there's no adaption period and they're easier and have been proven to slow myopia development more.

In my experience they cause less infections, vision is better (if there isn't much astigmatism), it doesn't matter if they break or you lose them.

Ortho K definitely isn't still "in research", I've been fitting them for about 25 years. You need to have a special bit of equipment to scan the shape of the cornea, which is why not all places do them. I do very few now as I prefer MiSight.