Someone Is Trying Out Contacts

My boy has been wearing glasses for the past two years.  Overall, his experience has been a positive one.  The only thing that causes him to be distressed is when he has difficulty getting his glasses perfectly clean.  And let me tell you, the child has some seriously high expectations.

He has never voiced an interest in trying contact lenses until recently.  At first it started off as mere curiosity.  Was it hard to put them in?  Could I feel them on my eyes?  How did I get them out?  I answered every question, demonstrated the proper way to put one in and even let him hold one of my contacts in his hand.

Then one day he informed me that he would like to give contacts a try.  I vowed that I would talk to his eye doctor at his next appointment.  After his eye exam last week, I brought up the subject of contacts as promised.  The doctor thought it was a great idea. 

Sadly, I was not prepared for the rigmarole that was about to ensue. 

My only point of reference was when I first got contacts almost twenty-six years ago.  All my mom had to do was tell the eye doctor of my desire.  Minutes later I was escorted to a chair in front of a large mirror.  After giving me a brief tutorial, the doctor handed me a pair of lenses and told me to put them in.  I quickly did as I was instructed and we were on our way.  It was that simple.

By contrast, my boy's doctor informed me that I would need to schedule an appointment for the boy to come in and "practice" putting on a pair of lenses.  He would be given a fifteen-minute time slot and if he was unable to get the hang of it, we would need to make another appointment to try again at a later time.  Apparently it takes some kids ten or more visits before they figured it out. 

Seriously?!

My boy's first practice session was yesterday after school.  As we walked in, I knew it was going to go one of two ways:  1) He would take after me and simply pop the lenses in his eyes on the first try.  2)  Like the hubby, he would have a phobia of anything touching his eyes.  This would result in a long, traumatic process involving a straight jacket, the jaws of life and a weary mother forcibly jamming a lens into her son's eye.

I am happy to report that the boy did great.  It took him a few tries, but he was able to insert and remove his lenses three times in thirty minutes.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.  

The only downer was the assistant that was helping him.  The poor girl had the personality of a doorknob and made the entire process way more complicated than it had to be.  At one point she had the boy so confused that I could tell he was about to give up. So, I did the only logical thing...  I quickly removed my own contact lens and then showed my boy the easiest way to put it back in.  Problem solved.

The doctor sent us home with a five day supply of daily wear contacts.  The boy is supposed to try them out and see what he thinks.  If he loves them, I will go on ahead and buy a few boxes.  If he decides just to stick with his glasses, then we're not out any money.  I'll let you know what he decides.