Contact Lenses.

[sft42]

Does anyone have any tips on putting Contact Lenses please? I have just got them and the optician said I would stuggle with them as my eyelids are quite tight and boy was she right.......is there such a thing as a gizmoe or tool to help you insert the thing? or do I have to struggle till I learn this secret?

[kahunabean]

I think the secrets are patience and practice ... Your eye needs to be open when the lens is presented to the surface. So you need to overcome a strong reflex - and if u have tight eyelids the margin for error will be less. Looking up as the lens arrives will help trick ur eye into not blinking. Holding the bottom lid down will help too. If you have a bad sesh ur eyes and lids will become a bit irritated and inflamed - u need to let them rest before resuming. Any upper eye lashes pointing down and any lower lashes pointing up will could trigger a blink - bend them away or even remove them. Even after wearing them for 20 years I still have a bad day in terms of putting them every now and then. Comfort yourself by thinking how many more chicks will be digging you once they're in. ;-)

[5029]

My trick is to use a swivel mirror on a base. Put the lens on your right index finger. put your face close to the mirror and turn your head to the left while keeping your eyes fixed on your reflexion. this will give you a wide expanse of white eye on the left hand side of your left eye. Put the lens on the white. Now hold your eye open with two fingers and turn your eye so that the coloured bit moves under the lens. this works for me

[KARL]

I have worn contact lenses for over 30 years and believe it may matter whether you are dealing with soft or hard (including gas permeable) lenses - the former are often a bit larger than the latter. Both my sons wear them also and I well remember the difficulties they had at the outset, but the encouraging thing is that these vanished fairly quickly (a matter of weeks). In my view it is important to gradually increase to full-time wear so your eyes don't get excessively irritated in the early days. The reflex to blink is more or less the only obstacle (our nature is to protect our eyesight from risk) but drying out of the eye is another when it is held open for too long while you drum up the courage to touch your eye straight on. The idea of offering the lens to the white may be beneficial but I hesitate to recommend this because then moving the lens can be difficult and if it stays put for a while the unaccustomed eye may start to complain with a burning sensation. In my view better practice holding your eyelids wide open with the fingers of one hand, watching in a mirror to see that your grip is secure and the gap is large (and find out how long you can hold on before the eye is too dry). Once this is under control have the lens on the middle finger (longest - this is definitely the best finger, the others don't keep a straight aim) hold it just in front of the eye resting the base of your hand on your jaw to steady it. Slowly but firmly bring in the lens until you are almost pressing on the eye (not just touching because then it will only be part of the rim you feel and it will not be fully seated). You will almost certainly take many efforts to achieve this but it will come - most likely much more quickly to be good with one eye before the other. Use right hand for right eye, left hand for left eye. Good luck.

[skelly]

Dear KARL, I can't believe that contact lenses have been around for 30 years, amazing the things you learn. Anyway, I've been wearing lenses for about 10 years and I don't really know how I put them in, it seems to come naturally. I stand quite close to the mirror, stare straight ahead, and while holding my eyelids apart with my left hand, insert the lens with the index finger of my right hand. Once the lens is in I wait a second or two, have a look around, and bingo, ready for the day. It's a bit like riding a bike or driving a car, after a while you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about when you were learning. Perseverance and practice. You'll soon find a method you're comfortable with. Anyway SFT, wasn't it you who was going for the laser surgery? Didn't it work or like me are you just too chicken?