Am I Old Enough To Get Contacts?

Am I Old Enough To Get Contacts? 

Many of my younger patients ask me how old they have to be before they can wear contact lenses.

My response is always the same.  Only when an individual is mature enough to be responsible for their glasses, attend to their personal hygiene and understand that caring for their contact lenses requires time and effort, is it time to consider contact lenses. I have fit individuals as young as age 10, but also have seen young adults who are not responsible enough to care for their lenses.  I tell parents “You know your child better than I do”.   When parents feel their child is responsible enough to be a contact lens candidate I am willing to pursue a contact lens evaluation and fitting.  

We first perform a complete ocular examination to determine a patient’s prescription and evaluate the eye itself to make sure it is healthy and a good candidate for contact lenses.  We then perform additional testing to determine what type of contact lens will provide the best vision and comfort to the patient.  We consider lifestyle, sports, recreation, and convenience issues when choosing the proper lens type. 

There are many different types of contact lenses.  Choices are now available for all prescription types including nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism as well as bifocals.   The most current approach to fitting contact lenses is to fit disposable or frequent replacement lenses.  This means that the patient throws his or her contact lenses away on a planned schedule.  We pick the type of lens based on how often the patient wants to discard the lens.  Disposable lenses exist in daily, two week, monthly, or quarterly replacement.  Sometimes patients get confused by the term disposable and believe it is safe to sleep in the contact lenses.  That is not the case.  Special contact lenses are approved for sleeping and they are called extended wear contact lenses.   It is very important that both the doctor and the patient have a good understanding of how the lenses are to be cleaned and worn.  If a patient improperly cleans or overextends the wear time of the lenses, it can lead to complications which can compromise eye health and vision.  

Once we know which lens type to fit we order the lenses.  When the lenses arrive we schedule a class for the patient to learn how to properly care for their contact lenses.  This includes how to insert and remove the lenses, clean them and determine a wearing schedule.  We then see the patient back for a 1-2 week contact lens check to ensure that the contact lenses fit properly and are providing clear, comfortable vision to the patient. 

If you are interested in trying contact lenses for the first time, it is an excellent time of the year to begin as there are some exciting new products to offer as well as excellent pricing and rebates offered by the contact lens companies themselves.  Call our office for an appointment and we can give you all of the details.     

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