Contact lens question

[Rich R]

Never having dealt with contacts, I'll ask this question here.
My nephew wears disposable soft contacts
+4.00 b.c. 9.1
Is it possible for him to wear +4.00 b.c. 8.8
or is it unsafe and not recomended.
Rich R.

[chip anderson]

Depends. It is probably O.K. and soft contact lenses are a lot like sweaters. As long as you don't defy the laws of physics too far you can put a lot of girls in the same sweater size. Any eye may or may not be happy with a given diameter, curvature, thickness or water content. The practioner should be taking the corneal curvature/diameter and all of the aforementioned into account as well as observing the mechanical fit and physiological effect on the eye.

Now if you go Linda Carter, who can't tell one lens from another doing this, you got a problem.

Chip

[UtahOD]

What chip said is true, but keep in mind that a contact lens Rx does not allow independent interpretation. For instance, Acuvue 2 comes in 2 base curves - 8.7 (median) and 8.3. Most people fit in an 8.7. However, there are also many that cannot wear the 8.7 because it is too flat. If the curves are not correct, then you get a lens that moves too much and will not give the best vision. I could go off a little here, but will refrain since I am certain to receive death threats from the locals if I call attention to professional deficiencies in certain areas.

If your nephew is in a 9.1, I would guess that he needs a very flat lens, and a steeper one (like the 8.8) will either not fit well and cause poor vision or side-effects, or will move and cause similar problems.

Thus, it is not recommended whatsoever. Any CL change needs to go through a doctor. Do not do it.

[Shwing]

I'll go a different tack here (tack is a sailing term, and now that spring has arrived, why not?)

Why do you ask???

Is your nephew having 'difficulties'?

How do you feel an '8.whatever' would be more benficial than a 9.whatever?

I think you need to provide a lot more information to get a valid response, nothing personal to the other posts...

Now then, I won't get into a discussion on fitting of contact lenses, however, IF you are going to this practitioner, you must obviously have a modicum of faith in their expertise, otherwise, why would you entrust your nephews eyecare to them?

Thus, if you DO trust your eyecare dude, then why question them, and if not, why stay with them...

I think the queston is ambivalent at best, however, I would be more than happy to assist in your research if you could provide more information and the reasoning behind it..

For now,

Shwing;-}

[Rich R]

Thanks for the responses, the reason I was asking was that my nephew was given some trial lenses while waiting for his order to come in, and got one pair that was most likely by accident the wrong base curve, he called me and asked if it was ok to use, so I'd thought why not ask this question here.
Thanks, Rich R