﻿Now, when it comes to getting started
with contact lenses, one of the most important things you're
going to need to be able to do is get the lenses out effectively and safely.
You can spend all the time in a world at home practicing to get the lenses in.
But if you can't get them out,
then you're potentially stuck in a dangerous situation.
So in this video, we'll look at how to get your lenses out.
Three issues that people face and three fixes to these issues.
Hi and welcome to the channel. My name is Martin Oguzie.
I'm an optometrist based in the United Kingdom and I've been
in practice for about 20 years on this channel.
We're all about helping you see better,
see more comfortably and be less anxious about your eyes.
And we do that with eye care tips.
How to videos and reviews are designed to help you get the best out of your
vision and the vision products that you use.
So before we get started, I just want to remind you to think about
subscribing to the channel if we do hit that notification bell as well.
That way you get reminded every time I release a new video,
if you're new to contact lenses, then please check out the description box
below for any resources that may accompany this video.
So let's get started with the first issue.
When it comes to issues around how to take
out contact lenses, the number one issue that I come across is
people not using their thumb effectively to grab the lens and remove the lens.
So it's understandable as a new contact
lens where you're not yet used to messing around with your eyes and having your
fingers around your eyes and your eyelashes.
So as a result,
we tend to find that people tend to be quite good at touching
the contact lens with the index finger, but their thumb tends to be outside
of the eye or stroking the lashes and not firmly in contact with the contact lens.
As a result, the never fully gets a grip of the contact lens.
And this can be quite an annoying thing to them because they don't see what's
going on and they don't have an awareness of the issue that they're having around
using their thumb to make sure that they're compressing their fingers
together enough to be able to get the lens out.
So typically, somebody who's struggling to get the contact lenses out because
they're not using their thumb effectively, it would look something like this.
You find that the index finger would be firmly on the contact lens,
whereas the thumb is outside of the eye or stroke in the lashes and is not firmly
on the surface of the eyeball and touching the contact lens my tip for fixing.
This would be as you go in. Think about your thumb.
First of all, make sure that your thumb is resting on the colour part of your eye the iris
area and that your index finger is also in contact with the surface as well.
Now, if the lens is in place, then you're actually touching the lens
and not your eye and it's not going to cause any irritation.
So you don't have to worry about your eyes
getting irritated because you're touching the surface of the eyeball
so often that people's anxiety of fear about touching their eyes is what causes
them to not really get a firm grip of the lens.
So once you've got your thumb and your
index finger firmly arrested on your right and touch your contact lens,
then your position to be able to get a firm grip of the lens.
So it's a simple fix to make.
And after what I find is that just making
people aware that they need to make sure that their thumb is touching the eye makes
a huge difference in them being able to actually grab the lens and being able
to take the lens off the surface of the eye.
So on the second issue that I find
that people have is that they're not using the mirror effectively.
Now, just remember that the contact lens is quite large.
It extends about a millimeter over
the colour part of the eye with your iris and onto the white of the eye.
So as long as you can see by closing the other eye, you know,
the lens is in place, then what you need to do is use the mirror
so that you can see roughly where the edges of the contact lenses are.
And then that way, just by having that clear view of the contact lens or at least
having a clear view of the iris area where you're going to rest your thumb and your
finger, then you've got a better chance of grabbing the lens.
And also, it helps you to build a visual awareness of what's going
on in the process and helps you to kind of really build that this muscle
memory or this visual memory of the process so that in a short time
you'll find that you won't need them to be able to do this anymore.
And the third and final issue that I find that people have is that they're just
being far too gentle with their contact lens.
So we'll explain this to people. I usually illustrate this by using
the back of my hand and then just compressing the skin on my hand.
Now, this point is you show people
the difference between just gently kind of stroking the surface of the lens
and getting a firm grip of that lens, using your thumb and your index finger
with a fairly wide grip, then pressing firmly just to compress
the skin in the same way that I expect you to be able to do so with the contact lens.
This shows you typically what most people will be doing.
So by stroking the surface of the lens,
it feels like you're having a good go at getting lens out, but in actual fact,
you've not got a fair amount of grip on the lens and as a result,
you can't pull it off and pull it away from the surface of the eye.
Just remember that the contact lens once
is on your eye and hydrated to the temperature of your eye.
It's got quite a firm attraction to the surface of your eye.
So it does need a good firm hold
on the lens to be able to lift it off the surface.
Now, usually what I find is that when
people take into account all of these three steps, when it comes to removing
and taking out their contact lenses, it makes a huge difference to how
effectively they're able to get the lenses out.
And for most people, they usually find a short period of time.
They're taking the lenses out first time
every time as extra tip of the day for you.
If you're somebody who's struggling
to remove your lenses, then you might want to invest in some
saline solution and use a saline solution to wash your eyes out.
You can just do that very gently.
And the extra solution will help to float
the lens on your eye, making it easier to remove.
Generally, I recommend that. Or contact lens,
whereas have backup bottles of saline solution in the house anyway.
That way you've got something to use
in case of emergencies, particularly for somebody who is daily
disposable, where I wouldn't normally have contact lens solution.
So feel free to check out some more recommended products in the description
box below and also think about subscribing to the channel.
And if you do, please hit that notification bell.
That way you get reminded every time I release a new video.
And if you're somebody who is also struggling with getting your contact
lenses in, then please check out this video over here.
Or if you just want to find out a bit more about contact lenses and seven good
reasons why you should think about contact lenses.
If you're just contemplating it, then check out this video over here.
Until then, I look forward to seeing you in next video.
Take care.