Help Contacts, Having a hard time with them.

EliteLamer

Any tips, I am trying contacts for the second time in my life. I tried them like 10 years ago when I was 12 and could never wear them. Im 22 now and I am trying them again. They sent me home to practice before they give me an RX. I have to start wearing these I just spent like 120.00 on all this crap. They a daily throw aways.

rockmonkey

what exactly is your problem? I've worn contacts for the past 10 years. Is it getting them in? or once they are in is there a problem?

EliteLamer

I can't even get them in. My eyes are red as fuck from trying.

lunchbox12682

Yeah it will suck for a while.
There are some people whose eyes simply can't handle them, but for most of us it just takes time.

rockmonkey

Ok stop trying for at least 30-45 minutes. Let your eyes water and blink them plenty for a couple seconds at first. go browse SE++ or something and when your eyes aren't bothering you anymore... Here is my DETAILED process that I've always used.

Here is my routine: Let's say you're putting the left one in. I'd open the little compartment in the contact case, or pop the foil top on a new one and take my right hand index finger and poke it in so the contact clings to it.

hold finger w/ contact stuck to it at eye level, gently pinch edge of contact with left hand index & thumb and flip over so that it makes a bowl on the tip of your right index finger.

looking closely at the brim of the contact you'll see either a bowl shape or a saucer shape. A saucer shape means the very edge flares out a bit. You may have to flip it over and check out the other side. One is a bowl the other is a saucer. Find the side that is a saucer. place one or two drops of solution in saucer and swish around, then push contact to invert and flip to bowl side and add a drop or two of solution, swish

now slightly tip finger so a drop or two runs out. ALWAYS PLACE CONTACT IN EYE WITH THE BOWL SHAPE TOWARDS EYE. THE OTHER SIDE SUCKS.

time to put that bad boy on! infront of a mirror: take left hand and put your thumb upside down infront of left eye. You're going to use the left thumb to hold the upper eye lid open.

move right hand with contact on index tip towards eye. The lower eye lid is going to be held open by the RIGHT middle finger while the index is point out straight infront of eye. HOLD the lids open wide and firmly but just don't jab in at your eye socket, push jab up and down against the bone of the edge of the eye socket above and below your eye. Hold them there.

looking in the mirror guide the contact towards the center of the intended eye, using the right eye to watch/follow/guide it and gentle place it all the way on. move index finger way from eye but keep it pried open with your fingers and look up, down, left, right, all around with the contact in eye. Release bottom lid and then after a second release upper lid. Gently close eye and give it a PAT on the outside of the closed eye lid with one of your fingers, NO RUBBING. Open it, blink a few times and you're down.

I do the same for the other eye just reverse the hands. right eye contact placed on left index this time.

Zul the Conqueror

I imagine you're doing a lot of these things already, but I'll just throw out some things that occur to me:

1) Wash your hands with soap then rinse thoroughly.
2) Make sure the lenses are right side out - they should be continuously concave. If they're inside out they'll flare out around the edges. Here is an image - right side out is on the right there.
3) Are your eyes dry? Try using eye drops immediately before putting the lenses in.
4) Are the lenses dry? If you drop them, or just keep trying to put them in, they may dry out a bit. Wet them ideally with eye drops (not lens cleaning solution, though depending on the solution you use this may be ok.)
5) I use a motion where the lens comes in kind of parallel to the eye - I don't just stick the lens on my finger then poke my eye. I don't know if this makes sense; I can elaborate if it's confusing.
6) Once you get the lens on the eye at all, you can usually blink it into position.

Hopefully some of that helps. Also if you can elaborate on precisely what's happening that may help. Is the lens sticking to your finger? Is it coming off your finger but not sticking on your eye at all? Does it get onto your eye then pop out as soon as you blink/move your eye?

I'm not an optometrist or anything, but I've been wearing lenses for at least 10 years now, so hopefully I can help .

EliteLamer

lunchbox12682 wrote: »

Yeah it will suck for a while.
There are some people whose eyes simply can't handle them, but for most of us it just takes time.

Thats what I am scared of.. How do I know if I won't be able to wear them? Do you mean some people try to wear them and they make there eyes red all the time or that some people can't even get them in.

EliteLamer

For the most part I can't even get them into my eye cause I blink when the contacts get really close to my eye. I have to get over that reflex.

Creepy

You can also try, right before you try to put the contact in, putting a small drop of solution in the bowl of the contact as it sits in the end of your finger. I noticed that when I did this it kind of adhered & centered itself a little better upon insertion, surface tension or something, I dunno.

And don't blink hard right after. Try to forget it's in. Gonna be hard for awhile.

rockmonkey

when it gets that close I always look with my other eye using the mirror, lean in as close as you want. that way I don't see the contact looming so close and freka myself out and blink.

EliteLamer

This is like the worst feeling in the world too me. Trying to get these in.

NightDragon

I used to use a mirror when I first got contacts, but I don't think I could ever handle watching the contact go on my eye...with the eye the contact was going on. That would absolutely make me blink.

As far as the blink-reflex goes, that tends to go away with time. I can touch my eye without any problem now.

For tips, I'd say add a drop of solution to the "bowl" of the contact before putting it on your eye. This helps the contact to stay on your eyeball, rather than cling to your finger [ah, just realized Creepy said the same thing. ). The trick is not letting the bottom of the contact get dry and stick to your finger, which can be a total bitch.

Once the contact is on my eye, sometimes I'll lift my lid over my eye, and then bring it down at the bottom of the lens...because sometimes if I just blink once I put my contact in, it'll shift the contact lens around.

---

Honestly, it sounds a hell of a lot more complicated than it is. You'll get used to it, it just takes time. After awhile you won't even feel them once they're in.

If your eyes get red and irritated, though, you really should wait a little while before trying to put them in again. Trying to put them in when they're red and irritated and painful will just make the process more unpleasant.

EliteLamer

I guess I am going to have red eyes for like a week.

Creepy

If this is your 1st time weaing them then the doc shoulda given you a schedule to follow, like 3 hours the 1st day, 4 the 2nd, 4 the 3rd, etc.

It took me awhile to work up to 8-10 hours. I finally gave up on them altogether when I moved to Arizona. Just too dry. Smoking or being around smoke exacebated the problems for me, too.

Finally just got LASIK. Damn nice.

EliteLamer

Its Raining ash here, FL is on fire. What happen to you, your eyes burned all the time?

rockmonkey

I never got some whacky schedule to follow, then again its been 10+ years. They just told me not to wear them for more than 8 hours/day.

edit: and now I'm allowed to sleep in these. so I wear them like 24/6 without problems.

Creepy

I stopped looking at things. Really. Went to the bookstore once with contacts in and came out empty handed. I just couldn't stand to have my eyes open long enough to actually scan for titles I might like. Gave up on them right after that.

Was very hard to pay attention to things that required me to watch or look closely.

EliteLamer

Contacts gave you headaches?

I had problems of the sort a long time ago when I first tried. I had a contact get stuck on my eye and it hurt like hell. My eyes turned fucking red and I just gave up on them. I am hoping that I can get it right this time now that I am older. I think being 12 was just to young to wear them.

Sarcastro

I don't wear contacts personally, but my mom used to roll her eyes up back into her head like a zombie and place the wet contact on the white of the eye, hold it in place and look back down to straight ahead. Seemed to work alright. Creeped me out as a kid though.

Serphimera

To get over the blinking reflex, I always kind of look away when I'm putting in my contacts. I put the contact (concave side up) on my right middle finger and pull open my eye with my other hand. Then I put the lense up to the corner of my eye and look to the side while I put it in.

For starters, you may want to carry around a small bottle of eyedrops. Until you learn to blink properly (because there's something in your eye, you have to make sure you fully close your eyelids when blinking), your eyes will be dry and irritated. You may want to try just a few hours the first day, then a little more each successive day until you get used to them.

Fristle

I have been wearing RGP (hard) contacts for a little over ten years now. I remember it took me about a month before it was easy to put them in my eyes. That's like saying you'll get it right by about your 30th try or so, if you put them in every day and take them out every night. It was not easy, but it was worth it.