Too young for contacts?!

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You have to ask yourself why YOU yourself want contacts? Are your reasons optically and functionally legitimate? That is.. will contacts help you see better, or perform better? or is it just coz you want to look better, and coz 'all your friends wear them' so you want to too?

Have you demonstrated to your father that are a responsible person, who is clean and tidy, well organised and have good common sense in looking after yourself?

If not, your father will oppose you wearing CL's. Think about it, if you can't keep your room clean, how can you keep your Contacts clean?... The risk of developing infection and possible blindness.. is also what your father is worried about.

Convince him that you can take care of yourself.. first by being a good model student..yes, even as a 12 yr old.
Perhaps play some level of competitive sport.. and tell your father that Glasses won't do for your sport.
Good luck.

Have him discuss it with your uncle. I do believe that contacts are for responsible people because so much can happen. I think it has less to do with your age than your ability to care for them and your eyes. If you can do that, then I'd say you are old enough.

tell him to call your uncle! you are def not too young!!!! he just doesn't
like the fact that youre growing up

Some ophthalmologists would NOT prescribe for you because of your young age. At 12, you are still growing, and are in -- or will soon be in -- a fast growing period. As you grow in height and weight, your eyes grow, too, and you would need to have a new prescription every year until you stop growing and your vision settles down. Your uncle, of course, may have a different opinion.

Some ophthalmologists prescribe them for young people because they know young people will have to keep coming back more often than people who have stopped growing. So they make more money from prescribing for young people. Since your uncle gives them to your family, his incentive to prescribe them for you is gone so he likely would give you his truthful opinion.

Contacts require a lot of upkeep to be able to wear them every day. The level of responsibility the doctor, in discussion with the parents, recognizes in a child has a very big influence on most ophthalmologists as to whether or not to prescribe them for a young person. Are you sure you know what's involved? Are you willing to put in the time it takes to keep them clean? How about try a free non-prescription pair from your uncle to see if you can even get them in? One of my sons, who is 42, wants to wear them but blinks whenever he tries to put them in his eye and can't get them in! I had trouble removing the foldable ones but persisted because I could see better with contacts than my glasses. I've worn a type of contact for over 30 years.

"Just because everyone else is" is not a very good reason, IMHO.

Contacts can be a pain in the butt when it's windy outside because dust and/or sand can get in your eye and you have to take the contact out. Of course, that NEVER happens at a convenient time! If you live in a windy part of the country, keep that in mind.

My comments are based on my experience and discussion with my ophthamologist regarding a grandchild.