Well, it was just a matter of time.

[kijip]

T, like his nearsighted mama and daddy, needs glasses! He was getting headaches sometimes and when we went to his 6 year check up today they did an basic check which indicated he needs to see an eye doctor, his vision was 20-20 last year on the same chart but this time he was having trouble with some big letters on the chart. He has an appointment for tomorrow. Since J and I have both needed glasses since childhood, we were not all that surprised. T is not happy about it at all, but he warmed up a little when he started trying on glasses at the store. We are going to get him 2 pairs.

Any tips on buying glasses for kids or helping him acclimate to wearing them? At 6, I assume he is old enough to not need a band to keep them on? I assume that protective coating is a good idea for kids, they can't be all that easy on them. When I was a child, there were like 5 pairs our insurance would pay for and they were all really ugly, it seems like there are cuter options out there now. Though we noticed most pairs were branded Hannah Montana or Sponge Bob. The optician asked T if he liked Sponge Bob and he said "Um, no. Not really at all. I saw that yellow sponge thingy on backpacks at school" :hysterical:

TIA!

[egoldber]

Sarah got glasses at the end of first, so about 6.75 and she *loves* them. LOVES them. No need to tell her to be careful, etc. She well and truly appreciates how much better she can see with them on.

And she has Barbie glasses. There is the teensient tinsiest Barbie logo on them, but other than that, you could never tell.

We got hers at Lenscrafters and I recommend them. They were inexpensive, scratch resistant coating was standard, they have adjusted them numerous times for free and replaced them once for free.

Here she is in them:

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u117/egoldber/DSC_0140_cropped-1.jpg

[sarahsthreads]

Oh, my goodness, Beth! She looks so cute and grown up in her glasses!

Katie, no advice, but I've needed them since 3rd or 4th grade (I can't remember!) and there are definitely cuter options out there than they used to have! I'm also constantly on the lookout for DD1 needing glasses because DH and I have both been wearing them since early grade school.

And I love T's comments about Spongebob. DD1 calls him "the cheese man" and only recently (and only because she can read) has learned he's Spongebob.

Sarah :)

[kijip]

And she has Barbie glasses. There is the teensient tinsiest Barbie logo on them, but other than that, you could never tell.


Sarah is such a big girl and adorable to boot!

RE: branding, yeah, we quickly realized no one would ever see it. It's just silly that each pair had to have a character attached to it. One of the pairs T likes is Navy blue on the outside in the front, purple-ish on the inside and has lighter blue stripes down the side. The have a tiny H on them (would be right behind the ear, buried in his hair) and I guess are Hannah Montana but there is no way anyone would guess, but the optician was trying to steer him to the metal sponge bob ones and he was not interested in a dull color.

[let73]

DD is 3 1/2 yo and has been wearing glasses for about a year. She didn't require a band to keep them on, so your LO should be fine. Definitely, get protective coating on the lenses.

There are definitely some cute frames out there. We got her glasses at the local children's hospital(Ophthalmology clinic) and the staff were awesome with helping us pick out the right glasses for her.

Good luck and have fun shopping for glasses!

[ohiomom]

DD1 got glasses 1 yr ago at age nearly 5. She has very bad astigmatism and therefore needed thick lenses. My sister is an optometrist so we went through her associated optical area to get a very deep discount. Her recommendation was to get quality frames that had a lot of flex to them. DD's are pretty stylish rectangular shape with red and pale blue shaped tiny diamonds along the temples. Her hair mostly covers them, but I've never seen anything like them at the lens crafters type places. We do go there for the occasional adjustments. Adults constantly compliment her on the frames. (DH gets all the selection credit.) I fully expected to need to replace more than 1 x/yr because she's a very active kiddo, but they've held up beautifully. Also, we purchased the type with magnetic clip on sunglasses and got a backup pair of the sunglasses. I think we just lost 1st set the weekend, so glad we go the 2nd. We got the scratch protectant too. Anyhow, you might want to explore other options if you aren't too excited by the options.

He'll look cute!

[mytwosons]

DS1 has had Flexon Kids brand since he got glasses a couple of years ago. They are super flexible, to reduce the chance of breakage. But, you never twist them around in front of the child. He treats them carefully, like regular frames, but if an accident happens, they don't break. I've been very happy with them, and no character!

The saying is: If they're not on the face, they must be in the case.

Getting him to wear them was very easy...he could see so much better, we didn't need much more incentive.

I've been told glasses are pretty common in the classroom by grade three, so kids don't feel different for wearing glasses.

good luck!

[spanannie]

Grace had to get glasses this past year (when she was 4). We couldn't find any we liked at the children's glasses shop--she was very limited in selection, since she has a very petite head. We went to an adult glasses shop and selected some, which aren't necessarily for children, but you can choose your frame size, color, etc. You trim the ear pieces to fit. They are similar to the Sillohuettes idea--very flexible, lightweight, rimless. We've only had to have one pair and they've held up really well. They were $$, though, but we are fortunate to have a connection with glasses and we could get a discount. I'm very happy with them.

As hard headed as Grace is, she really hasn't given us any problem with the glasses. She HATES having her eyes dilated and that's the biggest problem with glasses for her. It's very common to patch these days, too, and that's been recommended for her. Even though it's only a few hours/day, at home, she doesn't enjoy it and I've been lax in enforcing it. I really need to get on that, since they say you can correct her eye problem considerably, if you patch before age 7.

Here is a link to the manufacturer of her glasses:

http://www.italee.com/25/25main.html

[Gena]

DS is 5 and has been wearing glasses since he was 2. He has a very thick glasses and a bunch of vision problems: very farsighted, strong astigmatism, bilateral amblyopia, foveal hypoplasia. Even with his glasses, his best corrected vision is 20/50.

It took DS four days to get used to wearing his glasses, and the first three of those days were difficult. But once he realized how much better he could see and got over his initial fears of what things looked like, he stopped fighting the glasses., Since your child is older and understands the situation, he will most likely have no problems getting used to his glasses.

DS's current main glasses are a metal flex frame. I really regret getting this frame. This is his first pair without the cable temples (the ones that wrap around the ear) and DS has a very difficult time getting the glasses to stay in place. We have tried three different types/styles of nose-pads, had them adjusted many times, etc. So finally we did get him a strap to help keep them in place. The other issue with these frames is the flexible metal. DS is very active and is a "bump-and-crasher" (sensory issues), so he is constantly bending his frames out of shape. I am able to bend them back into shape, but it's a hassle. I prefer his older glasses where the metal had a little less give and for the temples were spring-hinged instead. Finally, with all that bending the frame, DS recently managed to snap the metal. Of course it happened when we were traveling out of state, and our warranty is with our local (not a chain) provider. So we ended up buying what became his back-up set of glasses to use until we returned home. His back-ups are plain dark grey plastic frames that make him look jut like "Ralphie" from A Christmas Story. They are not stylish, but they do the job.

DS has transition lenses, due to his extreme photophobia, which is both a sensory issue and a vision problem. It's so much easier for him than dealing with sunglasses or a clip.

Good luck!

[ett]

DS1 has astigmatism in one eye and needs to start wearing glasses. I was going to post asking for suggestions on glasses, so good timing for your post. :)

Has anyone gotten kids glasses at Costco? DS1's ophthalmologist told us to get them at the cheaper places because of possible breakage.

[kijip]

Has anyone gotten kids glasses at Costco? DS1's ophthalmologist told us to get them at the cheaper places because of possible breakage.

I called around to do some pricing (because insurance covers 1 pair and I want to buy him 2 pairs) and Costco was actually more expensive than Vista Optical and Lenscrafters.

Another option, my husband bought a pair through here just to see what they would be like, is Zenni Optical online. Prices start at $8 for complete sets. Very, very cheap. He paid $30ish for his and they really are not bad at all. Of course as life time wearers, J and I can each adjust our own really well and I want to get T professionally fitted.

[mommy111]

Beth, Sarah looks absolutely adorable in her glasses, makes me want to go back to wearing mine :)
Katie, we chose polycarbonate lenses, they're made of the same material as the face plates of astronauts and are unbreakable so good for sports. You may want to consider them if T tends to be very active

[MamaKath]

When dc1 first got them, we did get a string. That way she could take them off if she felt she didn't need them for something without loosing them. She really seemed to like that as she transitioned to wearing them full time. She really likes wearing them. We get ours at Walmart because they are cost effective and very local.

[rlu]

DS1 has had Flexon Kids brand since he got glasses a couple of years ago. They are super flexible, to reduce the chance of breakage. But, you never twist them around in front of the child. He treats them carefully, like regular frames, but if an accident happens, they don't break. I've been very happy with them, and no character!

The saying is: If they're not on the face, they must be in the case.

Getting him to wear them was very easy...he could see so much better, we didn't need much more incentive.

I've been told glasses are pretty common in the classroom by grade three, so kids don't feel different for wearing glasses.

good luck!

DS has worn Flexon Kids brand for two years now and we recommend them. Only had one frame break, in an odd way, it was defect of the frame, not something that normally would happen and not something DS did. DS prescription changed slightly so we had a new pair made for him at last checkup (we had an overlap in insurance at that time so we both frames and lenses were covered, normally under our insurance we get new frames every 24 months and lenses every year) and kept his previous pair as backups.

DS was 3.5 when he got his glasses and I think it only took a day or two for him to get accustomed to them. He wears them all the time.

FWIW, I apparently have a small head since I was able to get Disney frames my last go round with glasses (lasix since) which had a very small Mickey head on them but not noticably branded. They were much cheaper than the "adult" frames I had been considering and might be an option for T.

[s7714]

Both my DDs are now wearing glasses. My 6 year old just got hers a couple weeks ago. She is still having a hard time getting used to having something on her ears. We've adjusted the frames every which way and added mole skin to the ear pieces and they're still bothering her although she's gradually getting better. My 4 year old has been wearing glasses for about a year now and she's actually much better about wearing them than her sister is.

IME places automatically put poly-carb lenses into children's frames because they're lighter and harder to break.

We had a really, really hard time finding frames for both DDs because they have such petite face structures. Costco, Walmart, JCPenny's and a couple other places didn't have anything small enough. I finally found some small enough at Lenscrafter's for my younger DD, but it was absolute HELL dealing with them. (I know YMMV depending on the location--I'd previously had nothing but good experiences with a different location, but the Lenscrafter's in our city was horrible. I literally had to have the glasses redone, no joke, 18 times before we walked out the door with correctly made lenses!) Anyway, we're now seeing a doctor who sells the glasses in office and we're getting much better selection and service there. The pricing has been almost the same as well with the 20% discount we get through insurance.

I wouldn't be too concerned about brands or anything, because the glasses are so small they usually don't have too many identifiable marks on them. My DDs have Barbie (which only have small butterflies on them) and Disney (which have a very small Mickey silhouette at the end of the ear piece).

[ohiomom1121]

My DD started wearing glasses when she was 3.5. We did the 2 for $99 deal at Eyemasters in the mall (they automatically include polycarbonate lenses for kids). She did ok with them but was asking for a lot of "breaks" from wearing them. (They were Guess and Tommy Hilfiger metal frames). Less than a year later her prescription changed and it was cheaper to get the 2 for $99 deal again rather than replace the lenses ($80 each!). We got one pair of metal and one pair of plastic. After wearing the plastic she absolutely refused to wear the metal because of the nose pieces. We went and returned the metal ones for another pair of plastics and she has NO issues with wearing them now. I will never get her the metal ones again...can't believe how much happier she is wearing them. And they are completely adorable. The plastics come in really fun colors too. I think you just have to find what they are comfortable with. BTW, she never had to wear a strap.

[sadie427]

I was just going to recommend online for spares but it sounds like you know about that already--I've used 39dollarglasses.com for spares and sunglasses and they've turned out well. Glassyeyes.com could tell you which online sites sell kids glasses. I did have to get one of the pairs adjusted in a shop.

Locally, I use eyes on fremont for myself--I think I've seen kids glasses but not positive. A little more expensive, but very good glasses and top-notch customer service.