Learning to put in contact lenses is always a difficult and frustrating experience. It is a process you must master with practice and patience.
But, what happens when a lens gets stuck in your eye?
There are a few ways you can deal with this uncomfortable situation and ensure that you can remove your contacts safely. Eventually, you may want to consider LASIK in Orange County as a safe alternative to wearing contacts every day. Here are a couple of tips from your Advanced Eye Medical team!
Rinse Out Your Soft Lens
If you are wearing a soft contact lens – which you most likely are – it’s important to take some clean solution to your eye as soon as possible. First, you need to assess where the contact lens is stuck. Is it in the center of your cornea? If so, this means that the lens has dried out, and applying some simple solution to it can help you get it out.
Here’s what to do:
- Apply some contact solution or saline solution to the eye on the area of the dried contact lens.
- Close your eye for several minutes, massaging gently until you can feel the contact lens move.
- Open your eye and blink a few times to ensure that moisture has been restored.
- If the contact is still stuck, repeat this rinsing a few times.
Note that it can take up to 15 minutes for the lens to become re-moistened, so just be patient and continue being gentle with your eye.
Look Away from the Source
Another solution that may help you to dislodge the fastened contact lens is to look in the opposite direction of where you think the lens may be stuck. This is a good tactic for when the lens is not centered on your cornea, but instead on another part of the eye.
If you think your lens is stuck under your lower eyelid, look up. Continue this motion until you feel the contact lens move. If you think it is stuck to the right of your cornea, continue looking to the left. This may help you more easily see the lens in the mirror, too, so you can more easily fetch it out in a safe way.
If this happens all-too-often and you are growing tired of dealing with thin, unpredictable lenses, consider a consultation for LASIK Orange County. This fast and painless surgery can restore power to your vision and free you from having to wear glasses or contacts.
LASIK in Orange County
If neither of the two solutions listed above work for you, you need to get in touch with your emergency eye doctor right away. They may also recommend the benefits of LASIK eye surgery over wearing contacts, as you may enjoy its rewards better in the long run.
Here are some comparisons for your information:
- Contacts pose a higher infection risk to the eyes than LASIK. Generally, contacts cause an infection for 1 in 500 wearers, while LASIK is rarer than 1 in 10,000 cases.
- LASIK eye surgery is cheaper in the long run than contact lenses, which are continuously costly until you choose to no longer wear them.
- Contacts cannot be worn in the pool or during sports games; LASIK frees you from any limitations and lets you see in any situation.
Your LASIK Orange County specialists at Advanced Eye Medical are available to answer any questions you may have in comparing the benefits of contact lenses and LASIK surgery. For more information, or to schedule a consultation with Dr. Ghosheh, you can contact us online or give us a call at 1-866-997-2020. We look forward to assisting you!