so if you've ever had a contact lens stuck on the eye or maybe a lens stuck underneath
the eyelid then this is the video for you because we're going to walk through some
tips on how to remove that contact lens that's stuck on the eye safely. let's take a look.
hello and welcome this is Dr. Allen here from the dr eye health show helping you learn all about the
eyes and vision and today we're going to jump right into it we're going to help you remove a
contact lens that's stuck on the eye whether you are watching this right now and you have
a lens stock on the eye or maybe in the future if you are a contact lens wearer and you just happen
to have trouble with this these tips are going to help you out now there are two ways that a contact
lens can get stuck on the eye either you are just wearing it normally you can tell that it's sitting
on the eye but you're trying to remove it again and again and it just is not coming out the other
way is that the lens can be stuck underneath the eyelid and you're worried that somehow that lens
is getting behind the eye and like getting back to your brain or something like that rest be assured
if that is going on like right now and you're worried about that contact lens being like stuck
behind your eye don't worry it's impossible for that to happen there is a clear coating on the
eye called the conjunctiva that not only follows the eye about halfway up but then loops back
around onto the eyelid and that prevents anything from getting actually behind the eye however with
that being said if you've ever had a lens stuck underneath your lid you can definitely feel it
it's not very comfortable so i know how you feel now let's say in the first case you just have the
lens on the eye you can tell it's still there but you just have a hard time getting it off you've
been trying over and over and over again your eye is probably pretty angry red and irritated so
the first thing to do is just take a break kind of chill out for a second close your eyes blink
a few times and just calm down if you try to aggressively kind of reach at that lens and you
keep going and going at it you can end up actually poking yourself in the eye or scratching the eye
and i don't want you to end up with anything like that because that could lead to a true emergency
with the eye so again just take a break chill out and let's go over a few steps that'll help you
out more now if you have not already make sure you wash your hands and make sure your hands are clean
because you don't want to be touching your eye or putting anything in your eye with dirty hands
that could just make things worse but the next big tip is that if again the lenses are stuck
on the eye you can't get it out put some sort of lubrication in there whether it be an eye drop
specifically meant for contact lenses or even if you have a multi-purpose disinfecting solution
sometimes you can put that a little bit of one or two drops of there inside the eye as well that'll
help flush the lens around give you a little bit more lubrication behind the lens so it almost
floats off the eye because some contact lenses do seem to dry out over the course of while you're
wearing them and they can almost like suction onto the eye so giving a little bit of lubrication can
be helpful however a quick pro tip is that if you are using the multi-purpose disinfecting solution
don't use the one that has a red cap on it because that's a hydrogen peroxide solution and
that could end up burning your eye so again not with this red capped one now the real secret to
getting this lens out after you put any sort of lubrication on there is to make sure your hands
are bone dry they have to be absolutely bone dry once they're bone dry then making a little kissing
motion with your fingers you just simply hold open your eyelid and then grab and remove i know i make
it look a lot simpler than it probably is for you but i i swear keeping your hands bone dry
and just trying at it again and again eventually you will get it okay now for the next part if
you have a contact lens that's stuck in the eye and underneath the eyelid that's a little bit
different story first of all i think if you have anything stuck in the eye could be an eyelash or
a contact lens then blinking frequently sometimes helps that gets your eyelid moving and so
the eyelid can eventually push things out of the eye that's kind of just the nature of the eyelids
to begin with oftentimes here in the clinic though when we have somebody that does have
a lens stuck underneath the eyelid and they come into the clinic so we can remove it the real big
important tip and i've done this myself is to look downward so usually the lens isn't stuck
in the lower eyelid that comes out pretty easy but it's underneath the upper eyelid you want to
look down away from the lens and you want to look a little bit toward your nose so if it's stuck in
my left eye here i'll look down and toward my nose and you can usually feel where it's at if it's up
over here in the corner or off of here to the side you can kind of feel where it's at and you want
to kind of push the lens and you want to kind of just kind of move it a little bit with your finger
and you want to keep pushing it down and that will encourage it down toward the open part of the eye
once you feel it get toward the open part of the eye you can either again blink several times and
it'll just fall right out or if you need to again with your clean fingertips you can go ahead and
reach in and grab it out of the eye sometimes if you have a family member or a friend there to help
you they can help see where it's at and coach you through it otherwise if you have like a mirror you
can try to see it but i know if you're looking downward you're likely gonna have a hard time
seeing when it's at the edge of the eyelid this technique usually works the best
if the contact lens has rolled up on itself or is folded in some way usually again you can feel
a lot easier and just be able to push it down but on the off chance the contact lens is still
its normal fitting and it just happens to be suctioned to the eyeball itself then sometimes
not only pushing it downward but then doing the exact opposite and looking up toward the lens
can push that lens back onto the front surface of the eye and then the lens likes to settle on the
cornea a lot easier than the white part of the eye so sometimes again if you're troubleshooting try
not just looking down and moving it down toward the center but then also looking straight and even
upward toward the lens that could maybe help it slide into place and then the final tip here is
that if you still are having trouble getting this lens out then definitely flush the eye out whether
you have eye wash like a sterile saline eye wash that you can use and flush the eye out with
or again in this case if you do have multi-purpose solution that is not the hydrogen peroxide the red
cap bottle then again feel free to try and flush the eye out get some fluid moving and see if you
can push that lens a little bit more toward the opening of the eye now hopefully after trying
a few of these tips you were able to get the lens out the eye is probably going to be a little sore
and irritated if you can don't put the contact lens back in go back to just wearing glasses
otherwise to kind of just improve the comfort of the eye feel free to use a lubricating eye drop
maybe something like a gel eye drop maybe a little bit more comfortable just because it'll give the
eye a little bit extra padding if by chance you're not able to remove the lens then of course call
your eye doctor or local eye clinic so that you can get seen and have that lens removed easily
otherwise of course in this whole process if you did happen to poke or scratch yourself in the eye
you're in pain you have a red eye your vision is blurred and is becoming a problem then again do
not hesitate give your eye doctor a call so they can help you out now be sure to let me know in
the comments if you have ever had a contact lens stuck in the eye or underneath the eye that you
just couldn't get out did you ultimately get it out did this video perhaps walk you through
the steps and you were able to get it out just watching this video let us know in the comments
section because i'd love to hear your feedback otherwise i hope you enjoyed this video if you
found it helpful smash the like button for me and subscribe to the channel if you're new if you want
to learn more about contact lenses finding the best ones for you and your eyes then go ahead and
check out our full series by clicking or tapping the screen over here to the side otherwise again
this is dr Allen here from the Doctor Eye Health show, keep an eye on it and we'll talk to you soon