This article focuses solely on how to put contact lenses in small eyes. There are a few suggestions you should consider every time you try to put the lenses on. First of all, wash your hands before we continue and dry them. Now we can start.
The first part of this article focuses on soft contact lenses and the different techniques you should consider. In the second part, I will give you my tips for rigid contacts.
Before you begin with the lens right away I advise you to first place your fingers without the lens. I assume you are right-handed. If you are left-handed you can just inverse my recommendations. Prepare a towel and a mirror before you begin. A white towel comes in handy to locate the lens faster when you drop it. In addition to that, a lot of my clients find it easier to try the contacts in front of a mirror.
Place Your Fingertips Correctly
This part is critical! Make sure to place your fingertip right on the spot where your eyelashes sit. First, do this with your lower lid with the middle finger of your right hand. Then take the left hand and place the middle finger of your left hand right where the lashes are on the upper lid. Just watch the pictures below.
This will clear things up for you. When you grab your upper eyelid make sure to not go come from the side with your hand as this approach will give you less space to handle the contact lens in front of your eye. grab your upper lid and place your left hand in front of your forehead.
Ok perfect now you know the perfect spot where you should place your fingers. with this placement of your fingers, you will not be able to blink anymore. If you place your fingers a little above and below your eyelashes you will be still able to blink which makes it a lot harder to put the contacts on your eyes.
Just for practicing purposes pull on your lids so you can see the white parts of your eyeball above and below the iris. This pulling force needs to be kept up during the whole setup until the lenses sit on your eyes. So constantly remind yourself “Pull the lids out of the way, pull…pull and again pull”. This is also what I say to my clients constantly when they are in my shop and get the contact lenses fitted for the first time.
Place the Contact Lens Right on Your Fingertip of Your Index Finger
I advise you to place the contact lens on your right index finger right on your fingertip. This way you will have an easier time placing the contact lens on your eye. When you place the contact lens on your fingertip make sure the edges of the contact lens are free. If the contact lens sits on your finger in an askew way the lens will not land even on your eye and therefore will not be able to snuggle on your eyeball.
Now pull on your lids and try to place the contact lens right on your cornea. You can even place the lens on the white of your eyeball and it will automatically make its way in the middle of your eyes after you blinked a few times. This sounded easy but in reality, you will experience this:
- The contact lens falls down
- The contact lens does not snuggle on your eye but rather sticks to your finger
- The contact lens sits upended on your eye because your lids pushed it this way
- The contact lens sits on your eyelashes
So in reality you will oftentimes need up to an hour before the contact lens sits on your eye. Especially when you have small eyes the process is a little harder and will take more time. Make sure to get your eyes a little rest after you tried it a few times.
The mentioned bullet points are usually caused because your eyelashes hindered you to place the contact lens on your eyes correctly and they had a few seconds to snuggle on your eye. Make sure you pull on the lids permanently when trying to place the contacts on your eye. This is key. Pull, pull and pull and give the lens at least three seconds when you feel the lens on your eyeball.
This process should be repeated until the lenses sit on your eye. There are also a few ninja optician tips you can try for extra small eyes I will mention below but first, the already mentioned basics need to be set before you try my ninja optician tips below.
If you place your fingers in the positions mentioned before and you still can’t open your eyes wide enough for a contact lens it is time to sneak the contact lens under your lids. You normally place the contact lens on the fingertip and the soft contact lens has a diameter of approximately 0,55/inches 14mm when it is unfolded on your eye. But when you push the contact lens a little with your thumb you can reduce the size a little so you can slide the lens under your lid.
Ninja Optician Tipps for Extra Small Eyes
One word of caution though. Try not to force the contact lens in your eyes. When I say slide them under your lid I really mean do it in a gentle way and give the contact lens enough time to snuggle on your eye. When you push the lens a little to make the vertical diameter smaller the probability is a little higher for the contact lens to not unfold on your eye.
When this happens you will experience discomfort and need to pull the lens out.
When problems with contact lenses and extra small eyes come up it also helps to record yourself from the side with your smartphone. This way you can see where you are looking when trying to get the contact lens on your eye. This is important because when move your eyeballs constantly before the contact lens has enough contact with its surface the lens can not settle correctly.
The Diameter of the Contact Lens
Above I mentioned the average diameter of a soft contact lens. However, if you can not put the contact lens on your eyes even after a few sessions I would recommend smaller contact lenses. In some cases, individual soft contacts can work but in most cases, rigid gas permeable contact lenses will be even smaller as those usually only cover a part of your cornea.
So with a smaller lens, you should have an easier time putting the lens on even with smaller eyes. The placement of rigid contact lenses is even more important in the first place because they need to be placed right on your cornea when you put them in. In some cases, it is easier to look a little up or down so your lids are as far away as possible from the lens so you can place them as easily as possible on your eyes. Just look at the pictures below and things will get a lot clearer for you.
I hope the instructions here led to success the next thing will be to put them out. Especially with smaller eyes, this can be an issue too. So if you are struggling to remove the contact lenses I have the next article ready for you here.
I wish you a great day.
