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Help me put my contact lenses in

CognisseurCognisseur Registered User regular
edited August 2010 in Help / Advice Forum
So, I got contacts a few days ago. I don't have terrible vision, but I thought it'd be nice to see things far away with some sharpness, be able to read subtitles well, etc.

Problem is, I suck at putting them in my eye. I realized I have pretty long eye lashes and so everytime I try to put the contacts in the top eye lashes reverse the contact. Unfortunately, I don't really have a solution. I tried to hold my top eye lashes up with one finger but I guess my eyelid is sensitive or something because it immediately causes me to squint, making it impossible to put them in. I can pull the bottom of my eye all I want but that's not helping my problem too much.

So, what tips and tricks do you guys have? I'm willing to try pretty much anything because currently I just try for 15 minutes every morning and then give up in an enraged huff.

Cognisseur on

Posts

  • Fizban140Fizban140 Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited August 2010
    I have very long eye lashes and sensitive eyes, it took a little practice but after a few minutes I didnt have a problem.

    Hold your top eyelid and eyelashes up with your index finger, bottom with middle, look up and put the contact in with your other hand. Make sure to lube up your finger that is hold the contact and to roll it off after you put the contact on your eye so you don't pull it off.

    That actually isn't the way I put contact in, I just use my pointer finger to hold the eyelashes/lid up and my middle to put the contact in.

    Fizban140 on
  • DeadfallDeadfall I don't think you realize just how rich he is. In fact, I should put on a monocle.Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Honestly, it just takes practice. Everybody has their own technique. Like I just put the contact on my pointer finger and hold my bottom lid open with my middle finger on the same hand.

    Keep at it, everybody starts like this.

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  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Hahah! Welcome to the world of contact lenese! The first couple of days kinda suck, but you'll get the hang of it, and they will be great!

    What I do is I hold the contact with my index finger and I'll use my middle finger to pull down my lower eye lid. I look up with my eyeball and place the lens on the white part, then when you blink it falls into place naturally. Keep at it, you won't even need a mirror soon!

    Note: Always make sure your contact lense is not inside out. You can tell because it warps slightly when it's not in it's natural position and it will feel like you have something in your eye when you put it on.

    MagicToaster on
  • JdNoaJdNoa Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Cognisseur wrote: »
    So, I got contacts a few days ago. I don't have terrible vision, but I thought it'd be nice to see things far away with some sharpness, be able to read subtitles well, etc.

    Problem is, I suck at putting them in my eye. I realized I have pretty long eye lashes and so everytime I try to put the contacts in the top eye lashes reverse the contact. Unfortunately, I don't really have a solution. I tried to hold my top eye lashes up with one finger but I guess my eyelid is sensitive or something because it immediately causes me to squint, making it impossible to put them in. I can pull the bottom of my eye all I want but that's not helping my problem too much.

    So, what tips and tricks do you guys have? I'm willing to try pretty much anything because currently I just try for 15 minutes every morning and then give up in an enraged huff.

    I'm a bit slow at putting in contacts even after years because I blink a lot, but the way I do it is:

    1. make sure the fingers I use for pulling the eyelid (middle fingers on both hands) are totally dry, as is the area under my eye... if I mess up the first couple of tries I find that I get saline solution/tears under my eye or on my fingers, and at that point it's impossible to do without drying everything off

    2. have the contact lens on the index finger of my right hand

    3. pull up the top eyelid with the middle finger of my left hand

    4. pull down the bottom eyelid with the middle finger of my right hand

    5. look up (this helps me avoid the blinking)

    6. put the contact lens gently on the eye - I aim more towards the bottom to avoid the eyelashes. Since I'm looking up it goes on the white part under the iris

    7. take my index finger away from the eye, then gently nudge the lens into place by sort of pushing up a bit on the bottom eyelid - this is to push the lens upwards / get bubbles out / get it settled properly

    8. stop looking up

    9. let go of the eyelids

    It really does get better with practice - try to make sure you're not in a rush doing this for the first few weeks.

    JdNoa on
  • bfickybficky Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Here's what I do:

    When putting in the left contact, I put the palm of my right hand on the top of my head and lift up my left top eyelid with my right middle finger. I then have the contact on my left index finger, and use my left middle finger to lower my left lower eyelid. While looking straight ahead, I put the contact in on the outside of the pupil on the white area, then I look left to have the contact move to the pupil.

    Reverse everything for the other eye.

    It probably looks weird, with my other arm on top of my head, but it has worked flawlessly for me for 10 years.

    bficky on
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  • NotYouNotYou Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    The first night, it took me about an hour and a half to get them in and another hour and a half to get them out.

    Everyone puts them off differently. For me, it was tugging down my bottom eyelid with one finger, and putting the contact in the bottom part of my eye with the other hand while I looked up, and then sliding the contact up on to my pupil.

    It helped me to practice touching my eye (with the contact in between my finger and and my eye of course)

    This really is just a practice thing. It sucks.

    NotYou on
  • FireflashFireflash Montreal, QCRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Other than what others have said... practice, practice, practice. The more you do it, the more your eyes will get used to having a finger moving around there trying to put a lense. Keep at it and after a few days it should become pretty easy to do.

    Fireflash on
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  • CreepyCreepy Tucson, AzRegistered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Something you might try is:

    (Assuming you're right handed)

    1) Put contact on your right index finger

    2) Put a tiny drop of saline in bowl of contact

    3) Lean over so your eyes are looking at the ground

    4) Left hand index finger holds open your top lid slightly and carefully move your right hand with the contact towards your eye.

    5) Right hand middle finger pulls your bottom lid slightly down.

    6) Touch the contact to the center of your eye with as little pressure as possible. Just let it glom onto your eye. The saline helps.


    Always worked for me but makes it sound more complicated than it really is.

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  • CognisseurCognisseur Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Yay, you guys are the best. Especially Fizban140, because I tried his method after work (index finger top middle finger bottom) and it eventually worked (only 15 minutes for both contacts).

    So, two questions then. First, I can see much better far away now but I'm not seeing that great up close. My vision up close, like reading text on a computer, is perfect without contacts in, but it's kind of fuzzy right now with contacts. Will that pass? Is there something I should be doing to ease the process along?

    Second, my left eye isn't providing nearly as sharp of a long-distance image as my right eye. I called for a follow-up with my eye doctor and he said the lens could be rotated or something by some angle? I'm not sure I understand what he's talking about. Is there an 'up' side to my contacts or something?

    Cognisseur on
  • SilverEternitySilverEternity Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Cognisseur wrote: »
    Yay, you guys are the best. Especially Fizban140, because I tried his method after work (index finger top middle finger bottom) and it eventually worked (only 15 minutes for both contacts).

    So, two questions then. First, I can see much better far away now but I'm not seeing that great up close. My vision up close, like reading text on a computer, is perfect without contacts in, but it's kind of fuzzy right now with contacts. Will that pass? Is there something I should be doing to ease the process along?

    Second, my left eye isn't providing nearly as sharp of a long-distance image as my right eye. I called for a follow-up with my eye doctor and he said the lens could be rotated or something by some angle? I'm not sure I understand what he's talking about. Is there an 'up' side to my contacts or something?

    I don't believe most contacts have an "up" however, I know that some contacts for astigmatism do.

    SilverEternity on
  • SpacemilkSpacemilk Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Cognisseur wrote: »
    Yay, you guys are the best. Especially Fizban140, because I tried his method after work (index finger top middle finger bottom) and it eventually worked (only 15 minutes for both contacts).

    So, two questions then. First, I can see much better far away now but I'm not seeing that great up close. My vision up close, like reading text on a computer, is perfect without contacts in, but it's kind of fuzzy right now with contacts. Will that pass? Is there something I should be doing to ease the process along?

    Second, my left eye isn't providing nearly as sharp of a long-distance image as my right eye. I called for a follow-up with my eye doctor and he said the lens could be rotated or something by some angle? I'm not sure I understand what he's talking about. Is there an 'up' side to my contacts or something?
    Yeah like Silver said; do you have astigmatism? Or any other eye problem? Contacts for people with no eye problems are made to be just fine no matter how much they rotate.

    HOWEVER, what he COULD mean is that he fucked up your perscription since doctors occasionally talk about the strength in reference to the number of clicks to adjust their little eye machine to your vision. (during your visit to get fitted, he probably had you compare "lens 1" and "lens 2" while you looked through a machine that looked like a masquerade mask on steroids, and based on what you said he would rotate something that would make a clicking noise). I have had my doctor talk about how my perscription strength increased by a rotation or something like that.

    Having contacts with different perscriptions is not a bad thing, I think I'm currently like this. You get used to it. As long as the difference isn't terribly noticeable with both eyes open, you will probably be ok. If it's impacting the overall quality of your vision, you should make a follow-up appointment.

    (note: most GOOD eye doctors will at least suggest a follow-up visit for any major changes to your perscription. they will give you the option of cancelling if you really don't have anything that's bothering you, but they at least put you on their schedule)

    Spacemilk on
  • bfickybficky Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    There's a chance that your contacts may be inside out. Sometimes a contact will have a tiny letter on them, and the letter will be backwards when looking at the inside of your contact if they're inside out. My current ones do not have this, so I look at the profile of the contact to make sure the edges are not curling out. Kinda hard to explain in text, but the shape of the contact should be a constant curve... it shouldn't flair out at the edges.

    bficky on
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  • FiziksFiziks Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    A quick way to tell if your contact is inside out is if the edges are pointed outwards. A normal one will have it's edges pretty much straight up and down.

    Fiziks on
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  • cabsycabsy the fattest rainbow unicorn Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    A contact that is rightside out will look like ), a contact that is inside out will look more like an omega. Also it does take time to adjust to any new prescription and as has been said your doctor should schedule you for a followup or you should call and ask for one, and it should be free (generally) within x time frame.

    cabsy on
  • Raziel078Raziel078 Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    When I first got contacts it took me almost an hour to put them in for the first time. I got better at it with practice. Just do what everyone else told you. Here's a side question, I've worn contacts for a long time, then I got really broke ass college student and couldn't afford them. So for like a year and a half I only wore them for like a few hours every couple of weeks, now I wear them regularly again and it feels like they get dry in only a few hours, and for the rest of the day I'm blinking like a drunk in a spotlight. Is this just my eyes have changed or what? I mean the contacts are about 2 1/2 months old, but they are only supposed to be changed every 3 months, and way back when i used to wear them for way longer than 3 months with no problems. Whats up with that?

    Raziel078 on
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  • cabsycabsy the fattest rainbow unicorn Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    Raziel078 wrote: »
    When I first got contacts it took me almost an hour to put them in for the first time. I got better at it with practice. Just do what everyone else told you. Here's a side question, I've worn contacts for a long time, then I got really broke ass college student and couldn't afford them. So for like a year and a half I only wore them for like a few hours every couple of weeks, now I wear them regularly again and it feels like they get dry in only a few hours, and for the rest of the day I'm blinking like a drunk in a spotlight. Is this just my eyes have changed or what? I mean the contacts are about 2 1/2 months old, but they are only supposed to be changed every 3 months, and way back when i used to wear them for way longer than 3 months with no problems. Whats up with that?

    What brand of contacts, what solution you use to clean them, how often your eyes tear up, it'll all influence that. Generally you want contacts that let in as much air as possible to avoid stickyeye, don't sleep in them, try switching your solution if you're just using a basic no-rub. I use clearcare, which ABSOLUTELY MUST sit for six hours in the special case or your eyes will burn like hell, but it does a great job of cleaning my lenses and I can stretch a two week pair into 3 months comfortably and without causing issues.

    cabsy on
  • wmelonwmelon Registered User regular
    edited August 2010
    My trick is to pull my lower eyelid down with my left middle finger and then look upwards so i can't see it coming and blink. Then I use my right index finger to just pop it in. Then blink till it's all lined up.

    wmelon on
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