Tweens and contacts?

[cbwm1]

Will’s about to turn 11.

He’s on the spectrum, has some sensory issues (he has to wear goggles in the shower), so that might complicate things a bit.

Do any of you have tweens with contacts? Will’s brought them up a few times to us. I was 14 when I started wearing them (four years after I first got glasses), so I was a bit older than him.

I worry that he’s too young? But idk. Maybe he’s not?

[W.T.Faulkner]

I was 10 when I started wearing them. I kind of forced my parents’ hand, though, because I was blind as fuck but refused to wear my glasses. He’s definitely not too young!

[redwino]

I started wearing contacts at 12. It was the summer before 8th grade. I put them in at the dining room table for the first month or so because I was afraid of dropping them down the drain. Once I got the hang of them I was fine. I probably would have been ok at 11. Can you do a trial pair before you commit?

[cbwm1]

Jul 10, 2019 21:20:35 GMT -5 W.T.Faulkner said:

I was 10 when I started wearing them. I kind of forced my parents’ hand, though, because I was blind as fuck but refused to wear my glasses. He’s definitely not too young!

Will’s Rx is already at -4.5 and his eye doc said contacts could help stop that from progressing so quickly, so that makes me lean toward letting him try them, but I worry about him getting the responsibility that comes along with them, you know?

[cbwm1]

Jul 10, 2019 21:22:58 GMT -5 redwino said:

I started wearing contacts at 12. It was the summer before 8th grade. I put them in at the dining room table for the first month or so because I was afraid of dropping them down the drain. Once I got the hang of them I was fine. I probably would have been ok at 11. Can you do a trial pair before you commit?

Trials are absolutely what I would want to do.

He’s going into middle school in August so I get his desire for them!

I probably can’t call the eye doc and ask for a pair with his Rx, can I? lol

[jinkies]

I got them the end of 5th or beginning of 6th grade, so roughly 11 years old. I remember having a horrible time figuring out how to get them in. Like, I distinctly remember spending an hour in the bathroom trying to get them in and that session ended with me melting down. But after a few days I figured it out and have been fine ever since.

As long as you feel like you can trust him to wash his hands before handling them, and if he can handle the weird sensory aspect of inserting plastic directly onto an eyeball, then I don't think he's too young.

[cmeon]

My son got them at 10 (before 5th), DD will, too. I had them at 11. It's been great for DS, he's a very responsible kid (without any sensory issues), FWIW. He's in monthlies, our eye docs throw "trial" pairs around like candy, every eye doctor I've been to does- so I think getting trials will be easy. But, he's going to need a contact exam!

[readyin07]

Jul 10, 2019 21:27:06 GMT -5 jinkies said:

I got them the end of 5th or beginning of 6th grade, so roughly 11 years old. I remember having a horrible time figuring out how to get them in. Like, I distinctly remember spending an hour in the bathroom trying to get them in and that session ended with me melting down. But after a few days I figured it out and have been fine ever since.

As long as you feel like you can trust him to wash his hands before handling them, and if he can handle the weird sensory aspect of inserting plastic directly onto an eyeball, then I don't think he's too young.

Pretty much exactly this. You had to get them in three times before they would let you leave the optometrist and I left with some red ass eyes and almost didn’t make the cut. But it’s been fine.

I would strongly encourage a kid that young to really balance glasses and contacts. I wish I had gotten more used to glasses when I was young.

[redwino]

Jul 10, 2019 21:24:21 GMT -5 cbwm1 said:

Jul 10, 2019 21:22:58 GMT -5 redwino said:

I started wearing contacts at 12. It was the summer before 8th grade. I put them in at the dining room table for the first month or so because I was afraid of dropping them down the drain. Once I got the hang of them I was fine. I probably would have been ok at 11. Can you do a trial pair before you commit?

Trials are absolutely what I would want to do.

He’s going into middle school in August so I get his desire for them!

I probably can’t call the eye doc and ask for a pair with his Rx, can I? lol

They'll give you a trial pair. I've been wearing the same brand and prescription for at least 10 years and my doc still gives me a trial pair jic. Like pp said, they throw them around like candy.

Eta: I didn't see all of cemon's post. She is right about needing a contact exam. His glasses prescription won't be the same as his contact prescription.

[readyin07]

Jul 10, 2019 21:21:41 GMT -5 dock said:

I don’t remember how old I was, but it was middle school. Honestly I did (... and might still occasionally) a shitty job of taking care of them, but never had any real issues. I was so glad to not be wearing glasses anymore; I’m extremely near sighted and was really sensitive to how I looked in glasses.

Ugh me too. Mostly pulling late drunk nights in college and sleeping in them. And now I have GPC.

[pinkly]

I started wearing contacts at 8. My eyes were rapidly getting worse, and the doctor wanted to slow it down.

My girls started wearing them at 10 and 11. They had a bit of difficulty the first week but smooth sailing after that.

It’s amazing what a kid can do when they are truly motivated!

[cmeon]

I definitely underestimated how hard it would be for DS to get that first (couple of) pair(s) in- he couldn't do it the first day, so we went back the next day, he still couldn't do it, so they sent us home with a pair to practice with. He finally managed the next morning with those- he has absurdly long lashes, and frankly, none of my tricks worked- he finally sorted out his own method.

He doesn't wear them daily, and can almost stretch a 6m supply to a year (but, not quite). He loves them for soccer, sunny days (he loves sunglasses), and water activities. He usually changes into glasses after dinner on days he wears his contacts.

[goldengirlz]

I started wearing them in middle school but 25 years later, I have terrible problems with dry eye and something called neovascularization (new blood vessel growth) and I’ve heard that that’s not uncommon in long-term contact lens wearers. I’m sure contact lens technology will continue to evolve but at this point in time, I would not want my own DD starting so young (especially if there’s some genetic component to it.)

I also have never heard that contact lenses prevent your vision from getting worse. What’s the science behind that?

[Dumbledork]

There’s a girl in DD’s class, 9yo, with contacts.

She only wears them for gymnastics class and competitions, but her mom said she does them just fine.

[RoxMonster]

I started contacts in middle school and did fine with them. It took me awhile at the eye doc's office to be able to get them in and out myself. And I think I started them in the summer when I wasn't in a rush to get to school in the morning and also could take them out during the day (at first, I would wear them for just a few hours and then put glasses on and then slowly increased my time wearing them). I will say, it was slow-going at first. I would sometimes take 20 min to get both contacts in. But within a month (maybe? I forget--it's been a long time!) I was popping them in and out like nothing.

[cmeon]

There's evidence that RGP lenses can help stall myopia "creep" (though, it's likely not enough to prescribe them to kids over the benefits of soft contacts)- and there are special RGP lenses you can wear overnight (and remove in the morning) that reshape your eye, allowing you to spend the daytime (or two) without a corrective lens. It's a fairly new advancement.

Soft contact lenses do not slow myopia's progression.

[devonpow]

I got mine when I was 14 - the eye dr popped them in and sent me home with instructions to take them out after an hour or so. It took me TWO HOURS of standing in the bathroom to work up the courage to touch my eyes and get them out lol. So I guess I would say the sensory concerns would worry me more than age, but as long as he knows what’s involved and thinks he can handle putting them in and out it should be ok. And I’d either get the ones that are safe to sleep in or be on top of him about taking them out. I know I played with fire for years and was always sleeping with my contacts in - not good.

[winecat]

Jul 10, 2019 22:19:34 GMT -5 cmeon said:

There's evidence that RGP lenses can help stall myopia "creep" (though, it's likely not enough to prescribe them to kids over the benefits of soft contacts)- and there are special RGP lenses you can wear overnight (and remove in the morning) that reshape your eye, allowing you to spend the daytime (or two) without a corrective lens. It's a fairly new advancement.

Soft contact lenses do not slow myopia's progression.

Are the RGP lenses that reshape your eye work if you have astigmatism or a decently bad prescription?  What are they called?  I can google but not sure what to search for.  lol

[pinkly]

Jul 10, 2019 21:43:59 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I started wearing them in middle school but 25 years later, I have terrible problems with dry eye and something called neovascularization (new blood vessel growth) and I’ve heard that that’s not uncommon in long-term contact lens wearers. I’m sure contact lens technology will continue to evolve but at this point in time, I would not want my own DD starting so young (especially if there’s some genetic component to it.)

I also have never heard that contact lenses prevent your vision from getting worse. What’s the science behind that?

Well at the time I started wearing them, I was given hard contacts. That’s what helped. I guess the rigidity made it more difficult for the curve of my eye to change, or something. I’m certain I didn’t say that correctly.

As for my girls, they both play soccer basically year-round, as well as several months of volleyball. Glasses were just...difficult.

[IndiaInk]

I started wearing contacts at age 9. It was a bit challenging to get them in at first, but I figured it out. I never had glasses to fall back on and my vision was so poor that i was highly motivated to get those suckers in my eyes.
I do recall needing to sit at the dining room table with a mirror each morning for quite a while, so I could get up close and see what I was doing without fear of losing the contacts while I was putting them in. 

[penguingrrl]

My eye doctor offered them to my 9 year old, but she said no. The idea of touching her eyeballs creeped her out. We had to get her regular glasses and sports goggles instead and that has worked well for her. I wasn’t thrilled at letting a child wear contacts.

I wore contacts for 20 years before last fall my eyes suddenly can no longer tolerate them. I switched back to glasses, but use my leftover contacts when I swim because I don’t want to bring my $$$ sunglasses to the pool. They definitely bother my eyes still. I don’t know what changed.

[abs]

I tried contacts at some point in high school. It went poorly and I gave up pretty quickly since I only needed my glasses some of the time.

I tried contacts again in my 20's and again in my 30's once I needed glasses full time and I still couldn't. My eyes are just too dry and immediately reject the contacts. Like within 20 minutes the contacts pop right back out. So now at 40 I've just embraced wearing glasses. Who knows...maybe I'll be like DH who at 45 suddenly only needs glasses to drive and that's it.

[lostlenore]

I didn’t get contacts until I was 15, but DH got his around 10.

Ds1 and ds2 were both around 9 when they started using them. Ds1 loves them and wears them every day with no trouble at all. Ds2 likes both glasses and contacts, so he doesn’t wear them every day, but is starting to wear them more & more, with sports and swimming (his vision is terrible, so he really likes being able to see while swimming). Ds2 still needs help getting them in, but is slowly getting better.

They both wear dailies, which helps so much with the responsibility factor. I don’t have to worry about them keeping them properly cleaned and if they lose or tear one, it’s not a big deal like it was when I first got them and you only got one pair for a whole year.

[rbp]

I got gas permeable contacts at 11. My vision was deteriorating so rapidly that my optometrist tried to push them at 9(?) but I didn't have the fine motor skills to put them in and it was torture. (Apparently the rigid lenses help your eyeball to maintain a correct shape.)

Anyway, it was fine, but gas permeable contacts were a PITA. I switched to soft contacts at 16, and they're so much better. See if you can get some samples from your optometrist--I bet he'll be fine with soft contacts! My vision is so bad that I hate wearing glasses--I can't see as well, and even the ones with high refractive index lenses are so heavy that they hurt my nose and ears. 

[cmeon]

Jul 10, 2019 23:06:59 GMT -5 winecat said:

Jul 10, 2019 22:19:34 GMT -5 cmeon said:

There's evidence that RGP lenses can help stall myopia "creep" (though, it's likely not enough to prescribe them to kids over the benefits of soft contacts)- and there are special RGP lenses you can wear overnight (and remove in the morning) that reshape your eye, allowing you to spend the daytime (or two) without a corrective lens. It's a fairly new advancement.

Soft contact lenses do not slow myopia's progression.

Are the RGP lenses that reshape your eye work if you have astigmatism or a decently bad prescription?  What are they called?  I can google but not sure what to search for.  lol

www.aao.org/eye-health/glasses-contacts/what-is-orthokeratology

Because these work by re-curving the surface of the eye to its correct curve, they do work on some astigmatisms (but, probably not very severe ones). It's still fairly $$$$ compared to daytime contacts or glasses), they're interesting, though!

[tacokick]

I was 11. I am very nearsighted. I had (have) gas perm (hard contacts) and they felt like I could see better and it would slow my vision change down. They were easy to care for and no big deal once I got used to wearing them.

[SusanBAnthony]

I was 12 and it was a hot mess. That was in the days of wearing the same pair for a year!!!!!

I am much more willing to let DS try them since with dailies it isn't a huge deal if something happens.

DS is also 11 and ASD and has water in the eyes issues. He has no interest in contacts but has started asking about prescription goggles. He would not do well with contacts yet and as swimming and biking are the only sports he is interested in, there isn't much reason to do contacts.

I think we will just buy prescription goggles and sunglasses when he is a bit more responsible. This week he lost his regular glasses and he loses like 5 pairs of goggles a summer, so we aren't quite there yet

[lust2hart]

Jul 10, 2019 22:50:27 GMT -5 devonpow said:

I got mine when I was 14 - the eye dr popped them in and sent me home with instructions to take them out after an hour or so. It took me TWO HOURS of standing in the bathroom to work up the courage to touch my eyes and get them out lol. So I guess I would say the sensory concerns would worry me more than age, but as long as he knows what’s involved and thinks he can handle putting them in and out it should be ok. And I’d either get the ones that are safe to sleep in or be on top of him about taking them out. I know I played with fire for years and was always sleeping with my contacts in - not good.

This would be my concern, as well. Does he only struggle with water running into his eyes, or does he struggle with other eye issues as well - eyedrops, when he gets something in his eye, etc.?

[lolalolalola]

My 11 year old wears them. Our eye doctor does a training session and they aren’t allowed to leave with them unless they have put them in and taken them out a couple times. The first few weeks, it took my DD a looong time to put them in but she’s fast now.

My 13 year old has no desire as she doesn’t want to touch her eyes.

[SusanBAnthony]

Apparently prescription goggles only cost about 20$! (Swimoutlet.com). Apparently they are not exact prescription like glasses (since everything is blurry under water anyway). They come in standard strengths and you just match to the closest without going over.

Now I'm thinking I'll get some for DS sooner than later.