I just found out that children can wear contacts. Does anyone have any experiences they could share? I waited until I was 12 to wear contacts and I feel that was too long. I would like my daughter to wear contacts, but I have not found anything negative and was wondering if anyone has any knowledge about children and contacts.
Thanks.
My daughter is 7 and we did get her contacts. She has been wearing them for 6 days now. She is doing very well putting them in and taking them out by herself. We go back for the check up today to make sure everything still fits and her eyes are handling the contacts well.
My supervisor's son just got fitted for them and he's 9. Probably could have gotten them sooner, but be aware of growth spurts - I hear they can change vision drastically in a very short period of time. Might mean more frequent fittings vs getting new lenses.
My parents also wouldn't let me wear contacts until I was 12. And believe me, with the thickness of my glasses, it was torture. I didn't like that they made me wait. However, I understand now that they didn't think I was ready to take responsibility for them prior to that. That is the biggest issue, and a question about your child that only you can answer.
Do you think your child is responsible enough to take care of her contacts? As I'm sure you know, it's a pretty big responsibility to handle them properly, clean them, etc. If they don't take proper care of them, it can cost you more money than is necessary and possibly harm their eyes.
As for whether or not children can wear them, sure. Talk to her eye doctor and see what he/she recommends. If he/she feels that contacts would be a good fit for your daughter, then go forward with deciding if she's responsible enough to take care of them.
Here's a good article about children and contacts.
http://www.allaboutvision.com/parents/contacts.htm
Good luck with your decision! Hope this helped!
I agree with Miranda - do you think your daughter is responsible enough to take care of them? I started wearing contacts in the 6th grade - both my parents and the doctor felt I could handle them. This was back in the 80s when there were SO many more steps to clean them, too - I had to remember to clean them with a heated enzyme cleaner once a week! Other responsibilties included bringing my glasses, solution and the contact case to school every day in case one fell out. Now I'm sure it's easier with disposable contacts (those would be best in the long run - it would be more expensive to replace a lost or torn lens than to just get disposables). Maybe her doctor can give her a month supply of the disposable contacts and see if she even likes the way they feel.
I am not sure how old your daughter is, but I started wearing them when I was 10. Due to the fact my eyes were so bad. I never had any problems and never lost one to this day. Talk with your doctor there are so many options now a days like disposable either weekly or daily that she really does not have to be to responsible with them. My nephew who is 10 started wearing these contacts just at night that correct the shape of your cornea (I think) and then takes them off in the morning he now has 20/20 vision. Your eyes have to be less than a negative 5 to use them, but I cannot believe how well they work. My husbands cousin is an eye doctor and he wears them as well. They are called Paragon CRT look them up on the web.
That is a great article Miranda! My son just started wearing glasses at, almost 10. I was just so upset, because they tested his vision, at school, in October (20/50) and then in November (20/55), we'll they didn't tell me until December! I took him to the eye doctor and sure enough, he had 20/60! So, only 1 eye is bad. He now has glasses, which he cried so hard about!! I asked if he could wear just one contact and they stated the same thing about, it depending on the maturity of the child. He would just have to take it out and clean it at night when he brushed his teeth.
