so if you're just beginning to wear
contact lenses then this is the video
for you because i'm going to show you
how to put in contacts easily and
without hurting yourself let's take a
look
[Music]
and welcome i'm dr joseph allen i'm the
host here on dr eye health the channel
helps you learn all about the eyes
vision and finding the best vision
products so if you're new here to the
channel consider subscribing now before
i start showing you how to put in
contacts i just want to say it is best
for you to have already gone through a
type of fitting course with an eye care
professional at your eye clinic or an
optical because with that hands-on
training that's going to give you the
best chance of success with contact
lenses because they can actually guide
you through really how to put them in
how they want you to actually handle the
contact lenses and they can troubleshoot
any sort of problems you may have also
just on the off chance that you do end
up hurting your eye you'll be at the eye
clinic so that the doctor can take care
of you right away but assuming you've
already gone through that fitting course
and you're still having difficulties
then this video is going to help you out
let's get to it now the first thing is
you need to wash your hands lots of
microorganisms bacteria can live on your
hands same thing with lots of grease and
germs just make sure you wash all those
off then you need to dry your hands
thoroughly best using some type of a
cloth or a towel that is lint free
otherwise a little fibers of lint will
get stuck on your finger and that gets
on the lens and then that can get into
your eye and then the lens won't be
comfortable now that the hands are clean
and dry from any lint you want to verify
your contact lens prescriptions it is
best to always start with the same eye
every time you put in your contact
lenses because i am right hand dominant
i'm actually going to put in my right
eye first now some contact lenses do
come in little glass vials but most of
the time you'll see them in a little
blister pack like this one here
basically you just open the blister pack
or the bottle and the lens should be
inside to remove the contact lens use
the padding of your pointer finger to
pick up the lens being careful not to
hit it with your fingernail as that
could actually damage the lenses and if
you have long fingernails consider
clipping them because that'll reduce
your chance of hurting your eyes again
it's best to put the contact lens on the
pointer finger of your dominant hand
because that's going to give you more
control now you actually want to inspect
the lens for any sort of defects that
means if you see any sort of chipping
any sort of like wrinkled edges or if
it's already ripped or torn then you're
not going to want to put that in your
eye you're going to want to discard that
lens and open a new one now you really
want to pay attention to this part
because this part is really important
for having good comfort in your lenses
soft lenses like this one actually have
a correct way that they sit on the eye
but they can also be inside out and you
don't want to be putting a lens that's
inside out on the eye because it'll
slide around and it won't be comfortable
and it'll give you kind of variable
fluctuating vision to check if the soft
lens is the correct way or if it's
inside out you actually want to look at
it from the side if the lens is sitting
the correct way it should look like a
perfect bowl like in this image here
otherwise if it is inside out it'll look
more like this image with the edges kind
of flanging outward
if you're having trouble seeing that
then another cool way to do it is called
the taco test and that means if the lens
is actually sitting the correct way and
you pinch it from the sides it'll
actually fold in on itself looking like
a taco if the lens is inside out when
you pinch on it it'll actually again
fall outward and it won't actually sit
correctly it'll basically fight against
itself hey are you getting value out of
this if so smash that like button for me
now if you're like me you can put your
contacts in staring into a mirror
upright or you can look down onto a
mirror on the counter as well now this
part here is the real secret to getting
your contact lenses easily and that is
controlling your eyelids for most people
the actual difficulty of getting contact
lenses in is because they're very
sensitive about anything coming toward
their eyes and so by controlling your
eyelids and keeping them open the lid
won't come down hit the lens it won't
fall out now the secret to controlling
the eyelids is actually to use both
hands i use my non-dominant hand at the
middle finger to hold the eyelid at the
very top edge of that upper eyelid and i
actually hold it to the orbital bone
that way the upper eyelid doesn't really
move anywhere then i use my dominant
hand middle finger with the lens on the
pointer finger and i hold the lower
eyelid with that middle finger and then
i can just put the lens directly
onto the cornea bringing that contact
lens to the eye can be a little scary
sometimes but the lens actually acts as
a shield so it actually protects your
eye from feeling anything so yeah
touching the eye with the finger with
the contact lens in place shouldn't
really feel anything
again don't feel discouraged if it
touches the lashes and it falls out just
clean up the lens a little bit with some
solution and try again now there is the
optional step of using one single drop
of solution into the lens just to give
it a little bit extra cushion some
people find that a little bit more
comfortable one more time i'm going to
show you how that works again i hold the
top eyelid right in the middle i'm going
to hold the bottom eyelid right in the
middle and then i'm just going to put
the lens straight onto the eye and blink
a few times
there we go now right away when you put
the contact lenses in don't expect your
vision to be perfect right off the bat a
lot of times the lenses do have to
settle on the eye for the first couple
of minutes before your vision really
starts to dial in especially if you're
somebody who has an astigmatism or a
torrent contact lens that sort of lens
actually has a weight built into it so
if the lens isn't sitting just right
give it some time the weight in the lens
will eventually orient that lens in the
correct place and your vision should
gradually improve and that's basically
it once you have the contact lens in in
that eye then you can go ahead and
switch and do the other eye now a lot of
people will go ahead and switch arms
using their dominant hand to hold the
top eyelid and using their non-dominant
hand to put that lens in i still
personally am so right-handed then i
just go ahead and switch the on over to
the other side but i still use my
dominant hand to hold the lens and there
we go that one's in it's really just
that simple of course it does take some
practice at first you may have more
difficulty getting the lenses in but
over time with practice it becomes much
much easier and certainly don't feel
discouraged if it takes you a few tries
especially that first time putting in
contact lenses can be difficult for many
people myself when i was just 13 years
old first time wearing contacts took me
almost two hours before i got it figured
out so did you find this video helpful
were you able to get the lenses in go
ahead and comment the section below let
me know about your success and if you
have any other tips of your own on how
to get the lenses in go ahead and
comment let me know what you're doing
but now that you've learned how to put
in contacts let's go over how to take
them out if you'd like to see that video
just click or tap the screen over here
to the side as i built that as part of a
complete series for contacts for
beginners otherwise if you'd like to see
another video from dr ihealth you can
click to tap the screen up over here
again thanks for watching and we'll see
you in the next video