Contact lenses - how do you do it?

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I could get over the initial touching of the eye I suppose. I'm not sure if I can get over the fear of the contact getting stuck under an eyelid or behind the eye. Is that even possible?
 
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
I could get over the initial touching of the eye I suppose. I'm not sure if I can get over the fear of the contact getting stuck under an eyelid or behind the eye. Is that even possible?


You will, it just takes a little practice.
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Just relax and try again. I've been wearing contacts since I was 13, it took a little to get used to but they are so much more comfortable and convenient than eyeglasses. You might have to make 2 or 3 more trips to the optometrist but it'll be worth it.

Everyone has a different reaction to contacts. I have particularly dry eyes when I'm wearing contacts, so heavy winds or indoors with lots of A/C (which dries the air in addition to fans blowing) can make it really nasty for me. Lots of exercising and/or warm temperatures increase my tear production and I have few issues. I was fine playing sports or hiking, since it was producing both sweat and tears. Occasionally I'd be wearing my contacts into night at something like a baseball game, and if it was windy I'd put sunglasses on just to help with the wind drying out my contacts.

Rewetting drops only work to some extent for people like me with really dry eyes. I personally don't find them more comfortable than eyeglasses, but I like the better peripheral vision and don't want to damage my glasses playing sports. Contacts also allow me to wear a wide range of nonprescription sunglasses.

However, wearing contact lenses is no joke. They're not particularly dangerous if the wearer can respond to discomfort (or even pain) by taking them out. Some wearers ignore what their eyes are telling them and have ended up damaging their eyes.

A few years ago my mom had cataracts and replacement lenses that corrected her vision were implanted. However, she still has astigmatism and her vision still deteriorates over time such that she still needs glasses.
 
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
I could get over the initial touching of the eye I suppose. I'm not sure if I can get over the fear of the contact getting stuck under an eyelid or behind the eye. Is that even possible?

Never heard of a properly fitted contact lens getting stuck under an eyelid. If you do it right your don't touch or even put pressure on your eye with your finger when inserting the lens. The edge of the lens should stick to your cornea and you should be able to pull away your finger with the lens adhering to the cornea. Removing the lens should only result in a really light pressure on the eye. I bring my finger in gently until I barely feel the lens and pinch.

The one thing is that some people use right hand for the right eye and left hand for the left eye. I'm right handed and use right hand for both eyes. I hold both eyelids open with middle fingers (no jokes please) on the upper and lower eyelids and index finger inserting the lens. I remove almost the same way with thumb and index finger

Now an improperly fitted contact lens can stick to the eye or float around instead of centering on the cornea. However, it sounds like you're going to a licensed professional. Some people buy illegally sold non corrective lenses like novelty ones that change eye color or prop ones like cat eye lenses. There are tons of stories of people needing surgery to correct it, including corneal transplants. If it gets completely dry, a lens can get stuck to the eye and needs medical attention to remove.

A properly fitted contact lens floats around loosely on the cornea over a layer of your tears. It will move a little bit every time you blink, but should self-center immediately. It's a bit strange at first but you get used to it. For me it looked like everything in my vision dipped for a split second.
 
You guys have it easy nowadays with soft lens contacts.
I got my first pair in 1964 and of course they were hard lens.
They were pretty primitive then and very uncomfortable but I wanted out of glasses so bad that I stuck with it and I have worn hard lens ever since.
I wore soft ones for a little and they are a piece of cake.
To put in just open your eye with thumb and pointer finger of one hand and insert lens with pointer finger of other hand.
To remove just put pointer finger on outside corner of eye and stretch the eyelid and blink.
Lens will pop out.It's best to look down and have your other hand under the eye to catch it so you don't lose it.
 
Originally Posted By: silverrat
You get used to it. I've been wearing contacts since I was 17. Now 34. Place a couple of drops of solution in your contact lens before placing it in your eye for lubricant. Well worth it to not have to deal with glasses all the time.

Yes, that's the way I did it back in the day, too, around the same age. The first time I put my right contact in, an eyelash fell in it and got between it and my eye. My eye watered so bad, I didn't realize I could produce that much tear volume in half a second.
wink.gif


But, I never regretted getting contacts, and loved not dealing with glasses. I got PRK in my early 20s, and that went well, too.
 
Did not read the posts in this thread but will share my knowledge. I started wearing contacts about ten years ago. Nobody at the eye doctor explains how to put them in or take them out. I guess it is a secret that you need to figure out yourself. Anyway just remember that your finger will not be touching your eye. The contact is a buffer and is quite soft and comfortable. It is very important to put them in correctly. If you do so they will be in in no time at all. First use the index finger of your dominant hand and place the contact on the tip of that finger. Then use your middle finger of the same hand to pull down the lower eye lid. It is imperative, I cannot stress it enough, to pull down from the actual eye lid so that your finger is covering your eye lashes. Also use any finger of your choosing of your free hand to pull up on the upper eye lid while using the same technique of pulling from the actual eye lid to cover the eye lashes. Stray eye lashes will get under the contact and when you blink it will pop out. When placing the lens on the eye I just look forward. No mirror. I found out early on that a mirror made it more difficult for me. Once the contact is in blink a few times and the contact will self center. Removing is done in a similar fashion. You just need to figure out what works best. I just go straight in and grab it.

I have always been very skittish about anything with my eyes. Was [censored] near impossible to get eye drops in my eyes. My first experience with putting contacts in took more than an hour. Once I figured out covering the eye lashes and pulling on both eye lids I get both in in less than 30 seconds.

And do yourself a favor and use Clear Care solution. Clear Care cleans the lenses while they are stored for the evening. They always feel like a new pair. I get monthly lenses and I get 2-3 months from my lenses. Using just saline solution they are used up right at about a month.

Don
 
Wife used to wear contacts. I've seen her press em in with a finger tip, then move them around like trying to seat em in, get em about center and that's it. She made it look easy, like her eyeballs are dead in sensitivity.
Me, I can't hold a finger pointing at my eye 6 inches away without getting all weird. And a micro piece of lint feels like a pine cone soaked in Tabasco.
 
I also recommend Clear Care solution. Its a little pricey, but keeps them feeling fresh much longer. I have 2 week interval contacts, which I wear for 6 weeks easily since the solution keeps them very clean.
 
Originally Posted By: Audios
I also recommend Clear Care solution. Its a little pricey, but keeps them feeling fresh much longer. I have 2 week interval contacts, which I wear for 6 weeks easily since the solution keeps them very clean.


What about the bacteria from 6 weeks of use ?
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Originally Posted By: Audios
I also recommend Clear Care solution. Its a little pricey, but keeps them feeling fresh much longer. I have 2 week interval contacts, which I wear for 6 weeks easily since the solution keeps them very clean.


What about the bacteria from 6 weeks of use ?


Clear Care is a variation on AOSept. It's a peroxide disinfecting system with a platinum neutralization disc. The peroxide disinfects lenses pretty much instantly, but it needs several hours to neutralize the peroxide to make it safe to insert in the eye. I've heard of people who didn't wait long enough and suffered eye damage. They put a red tip on the solution bottle.

It's got a few downsides. The case has to stay upright, or else it leaks through the vents when there's pressure from the peroxide gassing oxygen. So you can't just disinfect and just put it in a bag or pocket. However, it effectively doesn't use preservatives, so it's pretty good for people who are sensitive. Once the neutralization is over, the vents should be leakproof.

Bacteria is rarely an issue with lenses that are properly disinfected. A bigger issue is protein deposits or lenses that are physically degraded.
 
I'd just note that Ciba used to have the gold standard, which was the separate use of MiraFlow cleaner, SoftWear Saline, and AOSept disinfectant. Nothing cleaned as well as MiraFlow which was a goopy mixture of alcohol and detergents. The alcohol itself was pretty effective as a disinfectant. It did take a lot rinsing though compared to other cleaners. SoftWear Saline was the best preserved saline on the market. It used a chemical that produced a tiny amount of peroxide that was safe to use in the eye and use to store disinfected lenses. AOSept was the peroxide based disinfectant. It had to be neutralized with the platinum coated disc in the lense case. It turned H2O2 into H2O and O2, and when fully neutralized the solution was basically pure saline in a sealed container.

Then the multipurpose solutions took over the market. They often offered no-rub options, although my eye doc didn't recommend it. They were supposed to be rinsed first, then stored in the solution, where the cleaner and disinfectant worked together over hours. It was mostly about convenience.
 
I developed a method that works really well.

Eye drops in both eyesi

Remove lens from container by index finger

Put lens, inverted, on very tip of other index finger

Pull open eye lid

Place lens in moist eye
 
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