Contact Lenses:
The FAQ
Can kids wear contact lenses safely?
It seems to be a long held belief that kids and contact lenses don’t go well together, at least until the age of sixteen. Parents have concerns that contact lenses might harm their child’s eyes, that lens handling and safe management would be too difficult, and that they would be expensive.
At Richard C Arnold Optometrists we have been fitting children successfully with contact lenses for many years. We have a preferential package to help with the costs of fitting and a care scheme that gives unlimited access to your practitioner for both eye examinations and aftercare appointments. The care scheme means that our lenses compare well with cost of lenses purchased ‘on-line’. In addition it gives reduced costs for lens solutions and the replacement of any lost or damaged lenses.
We use state of the art lenses allowing the eyes to breathe as if the lens was not there at all. Daily lenses are popular, particularly if lens cleaning and hygiene are a concern. Daily lenses are great for those with irregular wearing patterns; they only use the number of lenses that they need.
What are the advantages of contact lenses over spectacles?
The advantages of contact lenses are perhaps more important for children and teenagers as they grow and develop into adults. These include:
- Improved appearance and social acceptance. This is especially true for children needing more powerful and thicker lenses
- Greater safety and confidence in sports. Contact lenses don’t steam up like glasses and give all round vision even when it is raining
- Greater self-confidence, self-esteem and satisfaction
- Freedom from the need to carry and care for spectacles throughout the day, and freedom from spectacle breakages
- Full time vision correction - particularly important in children with squint, astigmatism and poor vision in one eye to ensure the eyes work properly together and to avoid a ‘lazy eye’
- Prescription is easy to update when eyesight is changing frequently
- Some lenses can provide additional protection from ultraviolet (UV) exposure.
What age is appropriate for wearing contact lenses?
The starting age for lens acceptance is important as very young children just would not be able to cope without a great deal of parental help.
We recommend 11 years of age as a guide, however we have had successful wearers at younger ages. It depends crucially upon motivation both of parent and child, and how responsible the child can be. If these criteria are met, children make excellent lens wearers, often quicker to learn and more adaptive than adults.
Is there another alternative to spectacles? Ortho-K?
If contact lenses become dry and irritating during the day and you don’t wish to consider laser refractive surgery, then Orthokeratology may be the answer.
Ortho-K is a safe, convenient and successful way to provide sight correction. The Ortho-K lenses are worn during sleep, floating upon the tears of the eye. The lenses utilise the tear surface tension to produce a slow and gentle corneal shape change and hence a correction for myopia. Removal of the lenses in the morning produces clear sight all day.
At present, Ortho-K is suitable for up to -5.00 dioptres of short sight, with astigmatism of -1.50 D, but advances are being made to extend this range.
Ortho-K is not expensive and may even be more cost effective compared to wearing a daily soft lens.
Why not make an appointment with our Ortho-K specialist, Nick Hackett, to find out whether Ortho-K is suitable for you?
The choice is yours
With our highly qualified and experienced staff we can offer expert advice and an extensive contact lens fitting service encompassing all popular soft lenses, bespoke specialist contact lenses, gas permeable lenses and of course Ortho-K over night lenses.
