Contact lenses and teenagers

[wolfbrother]

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?

DD has had dailies since she was 12. No way would I let her have ones she had to clean!!

The only way the optician would let her wear them was for her to alternate them with her glasses - so one day wear glasses, the next lenses.

This works well as her eyes get a break and she is not seen as the 'girl with glasses' by her peers as she is not wearing them all the time iyswim. She can also wear them for sports and special occasions. She gets 15 pairs a month for £15.00 a month from Specsavers including delivery and checkups.

Might that be an option?

Like Naoko, I have Gas Permeable lenses. I used to have soft ones but actually they accumulated more dirt and were more detrimental to the eye.

My current lenses cost £110 and I have had them an incredible 12-13 years. I clean them every day, and sterilise them less often than I should but at my annual optician's appt, I am always told they are in top notch condition and my sight has stayed exactly the same. It costs about £12 a month - at most - for the solutions, but it does require discipline to clean them. But once you're in the habit it is automatic. Also because they're plastic, they don't damage or tear like soft lenses. I lost one lens in the garden whilst rubbing my eye whilst weeding ten years ago, and found it several weeks later - it's still in use and perfectly good.

You can't beat www.daysoftcontactlenses.com/ for inexpensive daily disposables. you might want to call to Specsavers first for perhaps a month's supply or so, so as to get a decent detailed prescription first

Specsavers monthly disposables
£10 a month as I recall, been with them since she started wearing