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Vision and sensory issues

KH2507

My daughter is 13, and has poor vision.

She has had 3 eye surgeries to correct a turn in her eye, at around ages 5-7. Since, she has needed glasses. And has an absolute fear of her eyes being touched.
She plays football at a high level and has just been signed by a pro club, however her vision is stopping her with confidence and really getting her down. 

She hates glasses - as soon as we pull up into the car park for football, the glasses are taken off.

We went to specsavers and tried contact lenses however, they were very impatient and rushed. On the second visit, the optician put in the contact lenses for her and she was amazed at how well she could see… however, as she couldn’t put the lenses in herself, they would not prescribe them.

My daughter heavily relies on me, so I asked if I could put them in/out for her but it was a straight no.

She wont wear sport glasses and just hates to look different, 

Please can you share your experiences, and how we can move forward. In an ideal world, Contact lenses are the perfect solution but there are obviously barriers and I really want to help. We both know with better vision, she will manage much better with her football. We are in the North West area just incase there are recommendations of autism friendly services 

  • I had the same surgery at the same age, and it never really took properly in one eye (though it fixed the other) so I still require some vision correction for that as well as being short sighted. I did try contacts as I don't have any worries about touching my eyes and I agree with you that they're probably the best option for sports.

    Given that your daughter is autistic, she's not really a typical patient, and it may be that any requirement for her to put her contacts in fully independently needs to be waived. Alternatively she may just need more time to give it a go rather than the rushed appointment you had before. I know I struggled getting mine in purely due to my eyesight being so terrible! I wonder if Specsavers have a blanket policy on not prescribing contacts to people who can't get them in quickly and fully on their own- you might find that a local independent optician is more flexible about that requirement.

  • Like your daughter I had to have operations when I was very young, to correct a turn in my eye, and I've had a lifelong fear of my eyes being touched. I've always found the idea of contact lenses repulsive and immediately rejected any suggestions to try them. I'm happy with wearing glasses all the time.

    However in the case of your daughter glasses are not an acceptable solution and it sounds as if she is highly motivated to be able to wear contact lenses.

    I'm really amazed that she was able to tolerate the optician putting the contact lenses in for her and wants you to do the same. Fears are normally made worse by a loss of control. If I was ever inclined to try them I would have to put them in myself and wouldn't let anyone else anywhere near my eyes.

    I think it's well worth trying another optician and hopefully they will be much more patient and give your daughter the time she needs. Some opticians advertise a free trial period, so that your daughter could try using them at home in a less pressured environment.

  • I don't think that Specsavers have a high reputation for customer care. If you could see a therapist who specialised in desensitisation of phobias and could liaise with a, perhaps private, opticians to get some trial contact lenses to use with the therapist, that might work. Presumably, your daughter is highly motivated to try working on her phobia?