okay let's talk about contact lenses Hi my name is Antonio I'm an optometrist
teaching people how to use contact lenses properly is literally my job
when you see enough people try contact lenses for the first time you can pick
up mistake that they commonly make so today we will be learning the proper way of how
to insert and remove contact lenses without making those careless errors
let's begin
step 1 wash your hands if you don't wash your hands before handling contact lenses
small particles such as dust sand and oils on your fingers can stick onto the contacts
making it uncomfortable when you're wearing them to avoid this rinse your
hands thoroughly removing any dirt from your hands and especially your fingers
step 2 the taco test scoop the lens out of the solution and lay it down onto your index finger
try using the same sided hand as the eye you're about to put the lens into so for example we're
going to be doing the right eye first so we will use our right index finger position the lens at
eye level and inspect the lens there are two different ways your contacts can be positioned
the correct way should be for it to resemble a bowl shape where the lens points upwards
the incorrect way would be for it to resemble a taco where the lens either folds inwards or
the lens points outwards if you find that your contact lenses look more like a taco
rather than a bowl then all you have to do is flip the lens inside out if you're a beginner
then spotting these differences are going to be very difficult but luckily in ninety
nine cases out of a hundred the lens will be positioned in the bowl formation straight out
of the packaging once we have inspected the lens it's time to insert the lens into the eyeball
step 3 insertion contact lenses are usually about 14 millimeters in diameter which means that for
the lens to comfortably land on the eyeball we will need to expand our eyelids wider than the
lens itself otherwise the eyelids can block the entrance contact lenses generally extend
ever so slightly beyond the diameter of our iris which is the colored part of your eye so when you
stretch your eyes to insert the lens if you can see the sclera completely circling the iris then
you know you have your eyes wide enough the best way to open your eyelids is by using the monkey
grip technique which is when you dry your fingers except for the finger you're holding your lens of
course reach over the head with the opposite hand lifting the eyelid up slowly approaching the lens
closer to your eyes and using one of your other fingers you want to pull down on the lower eyelid
creating an opening for the lens to enter through here are some very common mistakes beginners make
when opening up the eyelids beginners do it too far from the eyelash margin look at the difference
in how wide I can get my eyelids from just opening them up from the eyelash margin rather than from
further away the more surface area you create during this process the easier it will be for
you to insert the lens when the lens approaches the eye most people panic by either closing their
eyes stronger than what they can keep open looking away to avoid looking at the lens or immediately
jump as soon as they feel the lens touch of the eye to be fair these are all instinctive movements
so you can't fault yourself for doing them but it's important to stay focused and calm during
this process if you fail to stick the lens on the eye and somehow the lens falls on the ground or
dries out from being in the air for too long either use a different lens or give the lens
a good rinse in its own solution to wash away any dust slowly move the lens closer to your eyes so
that your eyes don't panic aim centrally and in the case where you can't open your eyelids wide
enough insert the lens in an angle and tuck it underneath the eyelid and wait for the rest of
the lens to stick on for a good fit once the lens places itself on the eye it'll suck on to
its surface due to the surface tension of water if you can stay calm despite the weird sensation
you feel on your cornea you'll have a much better experience while doing the contact lens insertion
if you can swirl the lens on your eye and you will almost always get a good fit and there you have it
you have now successfully and calmly inserted your contacts in your eye but you can't call yourself
a contact lens wearer unless you know how to take them out in most cases I find patients find
removal to be much easier than the insertion so it should be a piece of cake from here step 4 removal
the aim of the removal process is to dislodge the lens away from the eye and pinch it out using the
soft part of your fingers not your fingernails one thing to remember is that every time you blink the
lens is designed to lodge itself back onto the cornea and so after blinking you may need to pull
the lens down again before attempting to pinch it off you will again need to physically slide your
finger over the cornea and having a contact lens on the eye makes it almost impossible to scratch
your actual eye so you can be a little bit more ambitious when dislodging the lens once the lens
sits lower you want to slide your two fingers onto the ridge that the white and the pink part
of your eyes make the common mistake here is that patients don't pinch the lens they don't get close
enough and end up pinching the air above the lens if you're using daily disposable lenses you can
store use the lenses in a bag and recycle them along with the blister packaging it came from
if you're using reusable lenses be diligent and store them in solution while not wearing them
the more comfortable you feel at touching your own eye and staying calm the easier the process
will become be responsible with contact lenses by not sleeping in them and replacing them when
you should if this tutorial helped you put in contact lenses in then feel free to hit like
I may do more tutorials in the future thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next video