are you new to scleral contact lenses they are pretty unique so i'm going to show you exactly
how to put them in and how to take them out let's focus in hey howdy everybody this is
dr neal guymon, Dr. EyeGuy, with the channel that keeps your eyes healthy and your vision clear now
scleral contact lenses can be amazing contact lenses for some people it can help them achieve
their best vision it will probably also be used for virtual reality contact lenses in the future
now due to their size and the nature of the contact lenses it can be pretty tricky to
put in your eyes and take out now let's first get prepared to put the scleral contact lens in start
off by washing your hands now identify the right and the left contact lens now inspect the contact
lenses make sure they're clean free of any lint or dust on there make sure there aren't any chips or
cracks in the lenses because you don't want to be putting that in your eye now before you get the
contact lens ready you want to get a mirror ready and you're going to lay it flat just like this
now the best tool to use especially when you're starting out is to use a plunger or a dmv plunger
now you're going to set the scleral lens like a bowl perfectly in the center of this plunger
and this is part of what makes sclera lenses pretty unique is you're actually going to fill
it with an improved ph balanced saline solution and you're going to feel it completely full full
enough to the point where the solution is about to fall out if you don't feel it completely full
like this this increases your chances of getting a bubble between the contact and your cornea and
that bubble can cause irritation issues it can also get in the way of the vision a little bit
now when you're ready to put the contact lens in you're going to position yourself
completely parallel with the mirror or completely parallel with the floor if you're tilted up a
little bit or too far down then the contact lens solution can fall out or you just won't get it
right on the center of the eye and it'll be much harder so make sure you're completely bent over
and parallel with the mirror or the floor now here's a little tip a lot of people use is they'll
snip or cut the bottom of the plunger off and this will create a see-through hole
that will act as a guide when they're putting in the contact lens as they're putting in the contact
lens if they are constantly looking through that hole then they know the lens is going straight and
directly on the center of the eye so once you're ready with the contact in the mirror let's talk
about how you keep your eyelids out of the way to get the contacts in your eye okay so i'm parallel
here pretend like this is the mirror laying on your table or your counter now there are a couple
ways to get your eyelids out of the way so you can do it a classic way where you reach over your head
grab the top eyelid i recommend grabbing the eyelashes getting the eyelashes out of the way
now you're going to use your middle finger or your ring finger to get the bottom eyelid and eyelashes
out of the way it can be trickier because you have to position your hand a little bit tricky
a little bit contorted to get the contact lens ready to put in your eye but that's usually the
best way that i have found another way is just to use one hand to control the top and bottom
eyelids to get them out of the way this one might be a little bit trickier especially if you start
flinching it's hard to keep the eyelids open and out of the way at the contact lens but a lot of
people do it this way especially when you start getting into your groove it becomes easier and
easier but that's another way to do that as well i am going to use the method where i use one hand
to get my top eyelid and lashes out of the way and then my middle finger uses the bottom eyelid and
then i have to contort my my hand a little bit and then i'll push it on push in a little bit and then
blink and then it's right on that easy now let me go over a few pro tips to make this a little bit
easier just in case if you're struggling a little bit one tip if you're using the cut plunger and
using the hole as a guide sometimes that can be tricky when you're putting it in it might tilt
or push the lens around and you'll spill a lot of the solution if you're having that problem
try and use a normal plunger and you can actually squeeze that plunger and stick the contact lens
centered on there and let go and that will create a suction and keep that contact lens in place
now one thing you have to remember is when you actually get it on your eye and you're about to
close your eyelids to get the contact on there is you have to squeeze it again to let go of the
contact so it's a little bit of an extra step but if you're having that problem you can try that way
another tip is you really want to get those eyelids and eyelashes out of the way even if
a part of an eyelid touches the contact lens it could tip the contact lens and dump out all the
solution and then you're just going to re-insert the contact lens because you might have a bubble
so really yank on those eyelids and eyelashes to get them out of the way
another tip when you're getting really close with the scleral contact lens that solution
is going to touch the surface of your cornea and the temptation will be to close your eyelids then
thinking that you have the contact on your eye but here's the tip you want to push in a little bit
more once the contact solution hits your eye keep pushing a little bit more and that will
seed the contact onto your eye and then you can slowly close your eyelids locking the contact
onto your eye now taking the scleral contact lens out we're actually going to use a different type
of plunger or suction plunger a different tool to take them out and they're a little bit smaller
than the ones that you're going to use to put them in there are usually two different types one has
a hole in there that you can actually squeeze to create a suction to squeeze onto the contact lens
to get it out and one that doesn't have a hole that you can actually kind of push and it creates
a suction kind of like pushing a suction cup onto a window or something like that that will
create its own suction either way these will help you pull the contact lens out let me show you
how to do that so i'm going to use a plunger that doesn't have a hole in it now you're going to push
onto the contact lens to create a suction so you can actually pull the contact lens out now here's
a tip you do not want to put the pressure or push on the center of the contact lens it can be really
tricky to pull that contact lens out because it will create actually a lot of suction between the
contact lens and your eye you want to position this plunger on the bottom third of the contact
lens that will help you pull or break suction from the contact to your eye so you can get it
out a lot easier so you're going to look up a little bit to get to the bottom third of that
contact a little bit easier you're gonna push on that bottom third to create a suction and pull up
and out a little bit and they'll break the suction and come out with the plunger or you can use the
plunger with a little bit of a hole to create your own suction so you squeeze and then push it on the
bottom through that contact let go of the squeeze to create a suction and then you can pull it out
that way here are a few tips if you're having a little bit trouble taking the scleral lens out
one is you can actually wet the tip of the small plunger that might help create a little bit
suction between the plunger and the contact lens another one if you're solving trouble getting the
contact lens out when you have the plunger onto the contact lens you can slightly press on the
side of the eye that will contort the eyeball a little bit but that will help break the suction
between the contact lens and the eye if you happen to put on the plunger a little bit too high near
the center of the contact lens and you can't get the contact lens out try rolling and twisting
and moving and sliding the plunger down to the bottom third of that contact lens so you can
get the contact lens out it might be tricky but sometimes you can roll and twist it and slide it
down kind of like you would a suction cup sliding it down a window and then you can get it into the
proper position and like i said at the beginning of the video scleral contact lenses will possibly
be used as virtual reality contact lenses i'll have a video talking about that when i have it
made i'll put it right there so you can check that out i'm Dr. Neal Guymon, Dr. EyeGuy, stay focused