When you are struggling to remove your contact lenses this article is for you. After you read this article you will know different techniques to get the contacts out. First, before we begin it is important to use a mirror to locate the contact lenses on your and to always wash your hands before you begin.
In the first part, we will talk about how to get the contact lenses out when you can see them on your eye in the mirror. When you are using a mirror make sure the environment is well lit. You can spot a soft contact lens on your eye pretty easily because the edges of the lens are visible on the white part of your eye.
If you are using rigid contact lenses in most cases they are not as visible because they only cover a part of your cornea. When you shine a light from the side of your eye you can see the edges of the lens and locate it. But first, we will focus on how to remove a soft contact lens.
What To Do When You Can’t Get Your Contact Lens Out?
One important factor to remove the lenses is to get the upper and the lower lids out of the way. Because when they are still covering the contact lens while you are trying to remove the contacts from your eye you will have a much harder time. The following step-by-step guide to removing the contacts is written for a right-handed person. If you are left-handed just switch left and right and you will be good.
The solution here is to place the fingertips right on the edges of your eyelids where your eyelashes are located. With a constant pull on your lids out of the way. The following guide can be used for both eyes.
- Place your right middle finger on the lower lid of your eye.
- Place the left middle finger on the upper lid
- Now pull your lids out of the way and look at the mirror
- Use your index finger and your thumb and grab the contact lens in the lower third
When you grab the contact lens in the lower third you can simultaneously see it which helped a lot of my clients in my optical shop. But there are also other techniques you could try to get the contact lenses out. One of them is to slide the contact lens on the nasal side. This way the contact lens can not snuggle as good on your eye anymore and oftentimes will be a lot easier to grab and remove with your thumb and your index finger when it placed more on the white of your eye.
Some people even go as far as wiping them completely on the nasal part. They swipe them a few times until the lenses bulge out and can be easily removed. I personally like the first options a lot more as they involve more controlled movements compared to the swiping method.
Can You Use a Removal Tool Like a Suction Cup to Remove Soft Contact Lenses From Your Eye?
Yes, you can. Depending on the contact lens material this will work or not in your case. There are bigger and smaller ones available. I usually do not recommend this option to my clients because it is an extra item you need to clean daily and usually contact lens wearers do not clean removal tools correctly. So I recommend sticking to the solutions above.
How To Remove Rigid (Hard) Contact Lenses?
A lot of times hard contact lenses are a lot easier to remove compared to soft contact lenses. Because hard contact lenses oftentimes pop out of your eye and just fall down. But before we begin make sure the contact lens will fall on a soft surface like a towel and not right into the sink.
The Pull Method To Remove Hard Contact Lenses:
Most people will have an easier time removing the lenses when pulling the lids on the temporal side. Especially in the beginning, this technique can be a little challenging as it requires the perfect timing for where you are looking at when to pull, and when to close your eyes. This sounds complicated but when you see it in the video above you will see it things will get a lot clearer to you. Just follow the steps below:
- Lean forward with your head so you are facing the table or sink in front of you
- look down and place the index finger on the temporal side of your eye
- Now pull to the temporal side with your finger and blink forcefully
- If the contact lens is still on your eye just repeat the process
In my opinion, this is the best method to get a rigid contact lens out of your eye because you apply minimal pressure onto the lens and it does not require an additional suction cup. But as I said it might require a little practice before this technique works for you. So do not get frustrated too early and keep on practicing.
The Pinch Method To Remove Hard Contact Lenses:
With the second method, you use your lids to pinch the contact lens out of your eye. To be a little more precise here you need to slide the edges of your lids under the contact lens so it loses contact with your cornea. This works by placing one index finger right where your eyelashes are located on the lower lid as well as on your upper lid. Now you need to apply a little pressure slight your eyelids towards your eye and the lenses. Like you would close your eye with your fingers. Watch the video above for a more visual explanation.
The Suction Cup Method To Remove Hard Contact Lenses:
With this method, you will need a removing tool which is a little plunger called DMV. Usually, you get this in most optical shops or your local optometrist or online. So let us start with the DMV.
- Wet the suction cup with disinfection solution
- Rinse the suction cup with saline
- Place the suction cup in the lower third of the contact lens
- Pull it out and a little up while removing the lens
As you can see there is a variation of techniques you could use when you are struggling to remove contact lenses from your eye. One thing you should consider besides the focus on hygiene is patience. In most cases when you are new to contacts you will be struggling to get them out and it will take multiple attempts until you hold them between your fingers.
In some cases when things take longer than 45 minutes and you feel your eyes can not handle the tries anymore to get them out call your eye care specialist. He will be happy to help you out.
I wish you a great day.