Any opticians on here?

[Posey]

Dd wants prescription swimming goggles. Was planning on getting them from a site recommended on here, so went to our optician to get her prescription. He said she was -1.75.
Now the goggles come in -1.50 or -2.00, but not -1.75.
Which way do we go?

you must go with -1.50 prescription over correcting her prescription (-2.00) could lead to headaches, but slightly less the prescription (-1.50) will do no harm at all and she prob won't notice the difference.

My guess is down as you expect a bit of distortion underwater anyway. Lenses that are too strong give me a headache. Too weak I can live with. Or get them somewhere else? VERY expensive.

like the name says...

Thanks klover. Neither dh nor I wear glasses so not very familiar with prescriptions.
Crosspost - yes, rather more than we were planning on paying!

Either way will make very little difference Posey, but I would usually opt for the lower rather than the higher power. I have to say, though, that most of our patients with low myopia like that wouldn't bother with prescription goggles. Does she definitely feel she needs them?

Well, put it this way, at the last swimming gala, she stood in the wrong lane for a relay as she couldn't see which lane her team mate was in, and also struggles to see her friends in the pool if they are in before her (I can see her squinting away).

Oh well, in that case.......!

Those goggles are expensive because they will make them to your exact prescription so you could have them in the -1.75 if you wanted. Not necessary for your dd but a useful site for keen swimmers with big prescriptions or astigmatism.
Speedo do off the peg swimming goggles in the half steps you mentioned for at least half the price.

Thanks for the tip

Posey what site are you thinking of using? dd has not long started wearing glasses and i would like to get her prescription googles as she struggles to see and panics a bit when she doesnt have them on

Most chain opticians (D&A, Specsavers etc) can order the Speedo ones in for you. if you want me to order some in and send to you in the post (if you can't get them anywhere else) then let me know.

Def agree with everyone else to go under the RX rather than over. I'm not an optom but i am a dispenser.

Thanks for that offer theUrbanNixie.
Clayre, we,re struggling a bit to decide which site and which goggles to choose so think we may actually go and ask the optician to order them. Then at least we know we're ordering the right thing iyswim.

Posey, you can get them from the dispensing department at Moorfields. They usually have them in stock, so you can try them out. They're a bit institutionally there, so you may have to argue, but they do sell stuff to people without a Moorfields prescription, cos I've done it myself. In the end I found it less hassle than buying online.

Do email me if you want more info on goggles, we've tried most of them over the years. Gator are good, but for smaller children only. Tbh, 1.5 is quite a low prescription to actually need prescription goggles -- dd1 and I have -6 and can't be confident of finding the right changing room without goggles, so you might find she decides they're more trouble than it's worth.

Thanks AG. You're the 2nd person to question her need for them, but as I've said dh and I are very ill-informed as we don't have glasses. If she thinks she would be happier with them, since she spends so much time at the pool, then I don't really mind forking out for them. She just better not lose them...maybe I can find a way of securing them to her head, maybe staples...

How's the leg?

Posey, if she spends a lot of time at the pool, it probably is worth it and people are all very different in that some of our patients who are only -0.50 feel that they are "lost" without their glasses whereas we get others who saunter in having lost their -4.00 specs a month before and have been going around in a pleasant blur ever since!
I am on ML and in Ireland so can't help you out with actually getting the goggles but the readymade Speedos are a better quality goggle than the made-to-order prescription ones that we do; although the prescription is more exact with the made-to-order ones, the Speedo are less likely to let in water.
If your dd is very young, it's probably better to draw the instructor's attention to the fact that they're prescription and not just regular goggles so they don't end up in the lost property pile!

Leg is okay Posey, but still 6 weeks away from functioning normally.

If she really wants them, go for it, but (a) don't spend too much and (b) be prepared for them to get lost. Aaargh.

I second the idea that the precise prescription is not that important -- for dd1's first pair we had specially-ordered Gator ones as she had -3 in one eye and -6 in the other, and it was important to get the proper correction. They were more expensive. But once her vision had evened up we just got ready-made ones.