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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

Contact lenses and teenagers

29 replies

wolfbrother · 09/08/2010 17:01

DS (16)wears glasses all the time and is thinking about lenses. Local (very good) optician has quoted about £22 for the fortnightly disposable (ie you clean them every night and dispose of then after two weeks)including solutions and check ups, and £45 (gulp) for 30 pairs of daily disposable, not including check-ups.

Obviously the first option is half the price...but do your teenage DCs clean them adequately, or is it a huge faff?

Any experience?

OP posts:
GetOrfMoiLand · 09/08/2010 17:05

That is too expensive - I pay £22 a month for daily disposables from Specsavers.

You can also get a yearly checkup from your optician and but them very cheaply online.

My brother had contacts from when he was 11, he had monthly disposables and was always scrupulous about cleaning them. He has dailies now because they work out not much more expensive.

lal123 · 09/08/2010 17:08

ASDAs contact lenses are really cheap too.

I was rubbish ar cleaning my lenses when I was younger, how my eyes have survived I don't know! Daily disposables are really handy

DrivenToDistraction · 09/08/2010 17:13

BIL (teenager) has night lenses, he wears them all night and then can see all day. Ideal as he plays a lot of hockey.

They are the ones that need to be cleaned, he does look after them properly as he knows it's that or glasses...

MmeRedWhiteandBlueberry · 09/08/2010 17:16

My DS(16) has just started with contacts.

His plan is £16 for monthly disposables, all solutions, and checks.

Original poster
wolfbrother · 09/08/2010 18:01

MmeRedWhiteandBlueberry

How is your DS getting on with the cleaning side? (I assume you mean he has a fresh pair every month, so is cleaning them daily.)

GetOrfMoiLand
I think they are expensive as they are a more expensive type of lens. I checked on Boots on line and they quote £42 per month for exactly the same daily disposable ones, so local optician doesn't seem to be completely out of line.

Thank you all for your replies.

OP posts:
MmeRedWhiteandBlueberry · 09/08/2010 18:07

He seems fine with it. The cleaning doesn't seem to complex, tbh.

JaynieB · 09/08/2010 18:07

I've been wearing lenses since I was 18 - gas permeable, which are hard lenses but good if you're very short sighted. Easier to look after too - I pay just under £18 a month for all solutions and new lenses every 6 months.
A colleague of mine has monthly ones that she leaves in all month (even at night) and then throws away - no cleaning involved.

trefusis · 09/08/2010 18:07

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scurryfunge · 09/08/2010 18:10

£15 a month for monthly disposables with Dolland and Aichson, including solutions. DS(15) has had them for 5 years now with no bother.

sarah293 · 09/08/2010 18:11

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trefusis · 09/08/2010 18:13

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weepootle · 09/08/2010 18:15

I had contacts from 14 yrs old, the type you mention and was quite good about looking after them.

The price you've said is very high though. I now wear lenses that I keep in all the time (24 hrs) for 1 month then throw away, they only cost me £15 pm from specsavers.

scurryfunge · 09/08/2010 18:16

The cleaning is fine, so long as it it becomes a well taught habit like teeth cleaning. It becomes second nature for them.

Original poster
wolfbrother · 09/08/2010 18:17

But "Acuvue true eye" say they let nearly 100% oxygen available through to the eye. They are expensive though. Even specsavers quote £40 per month for them on-line.

OP posts:
ChunkyPickle · 09/08/2010 18:32

I get eyetests locally (they're always very thorough when they hear I use night and day lenses) then buy online from the states (not sure if I'm supposed to link? I just spent a lot of time googling and ended up with visiondirect.com - I'm sure there's other places).

Even once I've paid customs duty I pay less than a tenner a month for Ciba vision continuous wear (ie. I put them in at the beginning of the month, wear them night and day until the end of the month)

I've been wearing these lenses for the past 8 years and I can't imagine going back to mucking about with dailies or taking them out every night.

Original poster
wolfbrother · 09/08/2010 18:36

Well it looks as if most people feel their DCs cope with the cleaning OK, so we are tempted by the two weekly ones, though I do notice that these ones (same brands) are a lot cheaper on-line through specsavers. Of course their price doesn't include solutions and check-ups. How many check ups do you need when you start wearing lenses?

I would feel pretty terrible abandoning the local optician though Blush-the DCs have always gone there.

OP posts:
sarah293 · 09/08/2010 18:43

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MumInBeds · 09/08/2010 18:49

I think I will only let ds have daily disposables until he is much older, a friend of the family has just had a couple of years of treatment and surgery and now his eyeball removed following an infection caused by just one instance of poor contact lens care.

Original poster
wolfbrother · 09/08/2010 18:53

But how did that happen MumInBeds?
I would have thought the infection risk was much greater in the ones that AREN'T daily disposable.

OP posts:
minipie · 09/08/2010 19:10

I started wearing contacts when I was 12.

They were the hard ones - hideously uncomfortable. I had to rub them with cleaning solution every evening, then put them in neutralising solution overnight. if I'd done it wrong I could have burned my eyeballs Shock

I was only 12. But I did it properly.

Looking after soft contact lenses is SO much easier - you just have to tip out and replace the solution, how hard is that?

At 16 I'd certainly think your DD should be old enough to take care of her own soft lenses.

Milliways · 10/08/2010 16:59

DD's lenses (monthly) are £18pm for Toric lenses as she has Astigmatism (sp?).

She was on £15 pairs but recently upgraded to ones she could wear all day - others were limited hours per day.

Last week she had her first disaster in over 3 years - and put a lens straight from the (old, no longer used but used in error) PEROXIDE solution into her eye! Shock

OUCH! Was terrible, trip to GP etc etc to check no real dfamage done, but it took a few days before she could put a lens back in.

Original poster
wolfbrother · 10/08/2010 18:03

OUCH INDEED!!

Thank you for all your comments everyone.

OP posts:
AnyFucker · 10/08/2010 18:07

Asda daily disposables...Focus Dailies

57 quid for 3 months supply

Naoko · 11/08/2010 20:35

I got hard lenses (gas permeable) when I was 13. They're hard to learn to wear, very uncomfortable for the first two weeks or so, and you have to build it up, an extra hour every day until you can wear them all day.

I was really good about cleaning them as a teenager because I hated wearing my glasses, so I took care of my contacts because it meant I didn't have to wear the glasses! I don't take as good care of them now though, should really start again...

They're absolutely the cheapest option though. Mine cost £100 for the pair from specsavers, and they're supposed to last about 2 years. Mine tend to last much longer than that though, one of them is going on for 4 years now. (My left contact is older than the right because I lost one and had to have it replaced...) Obviously the £100 does not include solutions, but it still works out quite cheaply.

As for infections - every optician I've ever been to says they see far fewer infections with GP lenses than with soft ones, because they float on the eye, rather than 'attaching' themselves. I've never had any trouble in 11 years and as mentioned, my cleaning isn't as scrupulous as it could be.

alexsdad · 13/08/2010 14:18

DD (13) has monthly disposables as others have mentioned. No problems to date.

I used to have daily disposables, but got them over t'interweb. Significantly cheaper (at the time) than any shop. You had to have your prescription and send them a copy before you could set up an account.

Have to say though personally I would be a little careful about following this route with DD as her prescription seems to change fairly frequently at the moment and I appreciate the care the opticians are giving her. However, any adult wearers reading this may want to check it out?