in this video I'm gonna walk you through how to put in and take out scleral lenses
let's take a look hello and welcome this is dr. Allen here from the doctor eye health
show helping you learn all about the eyes and vision and if you're new here
to the channel and you like learning about contact lenses and different eye
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that you don't miss any of my future videos now of course at any point
throughout the video feel free to check out the youtube description below
because they'll include some additional links and resources that will help you
along your scleral lens journey now inserting sclera lenses can be a bit
tricky so I'm gonna walk you through how I feel it works the best for me but if
at any point you have trouble with your scleral lenses contact your local eye
care provider now first thing when dealing with contacts whether you
putting them in or taking them out you're gonna be touching around your eye
so make sure you wash your hands thoroughly next we want to identify
which contact lens you're gonna be putting in I typically always start with
my right eye because I am right-handed that way I don't mix up which lens I'm
putting in which eye it's just easier to build a habit out of it that way you
don't have to try to remember which is which you do have a mix up your lenses
some brands do have little laser markings on them including little dots
that will tell you which I belongs to which usually there's one dot for the
right eye and sometimes you'll see two dots for the left eye but ultimately if
you do mix them up and you're not sure contact your eye clinic for help now
when you remove the lens you want to inspect it to make sure there's no
defects no chips or any other problems now there's a few different ways to
insert scleral lenses however I prefer to use a little plunger called a DMV no pro
tip is if you get a DMV and it does have the bottom being rounded you can go
ahead and use a scissors to snip that off because afterward you will have a
DMV that has a little hole in the bottom and with this little hole you can see a
light passing through it and it acts as a guide for you when you're putting in
the lens they put the lens on the DMV like so and
then you want to fill the bowl completely with non preserved saline
solution otherwise if you're using a multi-purpose solution of some kind for
other types of contact lenses that solution will have preservatives and
those preservatives will get trapped on the eye and that can lead to a chemical
burn you can often buy this special type of saline solution from your eye clinic
otherwise you can also find them online I'll include some resources in the
description below now you'll need to the bowl of the lenss completely all the
way to the top that way you can kind of see a bubble of fluid forming on the top
if you don't fill the bowl completely then you're likely gonna get a bubble
when you apply two lens and then you're not gonna see well and the lens is gonna
move and it won't be as comfortable now inserting the scleral lens you want to
have your face completely parallel to the floor
some people find using a mirror or something as a fixation target on the
counter can help you with inserting the lens and getting it in the right spot
but again you want to be facing down and parallel to the floor that way you don't
spill the fluid out of the scleral lens when you're trying to put it in now most
people find it easiest to hold the scleral lens in one hand while using the
other hand to hold both eyelids open as you putting the lens onto the eye
another pro tip is to keep both eyelids open during this whole process because
that'll help keep the eyelids open as the eyelids are open wide push the lens
onto the eye while staring straight down toward the floor the lens will gently
suction onto the eye and into place naturally some of the saline solution
will be displaced and spill out of the lens so expect it to be a little messy
don't be afraid this whole process can take a few tries if you're just starting
out if you do find it challenging to hold both eyelids open with just one
hand look maybe your eyelids are just too strong then perhaps considering
using what's called the s5 inserter this is a special type of lens inserter that
will hold your scleral lens for you that suctions onto the counter and then you
can just kind of hold both eyelids open with both of your hands and then you can
slowly dip your eye into the scleral lens having it suction on for a lot of
people when you initially get the lens on things aren't perfectly clear it
takes a little time for that lens to settle so if it's not fully clear right
away consider that to be pretty normal now next we're going to go over how to
remove the lens but first if you're liking this video hit that like button
for me and leave a comment below of what part of this video you find most helpful
now to remove a scleral contact lens there again there are a couple of
different methods you can use however I still like to use a plunger this plunger
is a little different than the first one we used this one is a little smaller and
is the exact same one you can use to remove things like hard our GP lenses
first I want to wet the plunger and then aim the plunger at the lower 1/3 of the
scleral lens then you will pull up and out until the scleral lens breaks
suction at the same time you can push on the side of the eye and that will help
break suction from the lens try not to put the plunger directly on the center
of the eye otherwise it's gonna put too much pressure of suction on the eye
itself and this can be hard to get off again try to aim for the lower 1/3 of
the lens so it acts kind of like a fulcrum and is able to come off much
easier and there you did it congratulations now to clean and store
the lens make sure you use an approved solution for hard are GP or sclera
lenses or just follow the instructions by your local eye care provider again
this whole process is pretty difficult so don't feel discouraged if you didn't
get it on the first few tries but if you continue to have difficulties make sure
to ask your local eye care professional for some more guided help so hope you
found this video helpful if you want to learn additional information about
keratoconus or other eye diseases go ahead and click or tap the screen over
here to decide to check out my full common eye disease series or if you want
to learn more about contact lenses you can click or tap the screen down over
here for additional information about contacts otherwise keep an eye on it and
we'll talk to you soon