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Don’t Panic Over Dislodged Contact Lenses

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No fear – contact lenses can’t get lost behind your eyeball!

Everyone is guilty of rubbing their eyes sometimes. No matter how many time your eye doctor warned you not to rub your eyes when wearing contact lenses, your fingers still found their way to your eyelids – right? Or perhaps you decided to leave your contacts in while removing eye makeup, rubbing your eyelids repeatedly with a cotton ball. Anyone who has vigorously rubbed their eyes while wearing contact lenses probably relates to the scary experience of losing a contact in their eye.

Eye rubbing isn’t the only cause of dislodged contact lenses. Poorly fitting contacts can also dislodge easier, which is why an eye exam by our qualified East Plano eye doctor is essential for determining the best fit. Accidentally inserting your contact inside-out can also make it move more easily in your eye, and the discomfort will prompt you to rub your eye – dislodging the lens.

Regardless of what pushed your soft contact lenses out of position, you can handle the situation expertly and calmly to prevent any damage to your delicate peepers. Here’s how:

  1. Don’t panic: Your eye is covered by the conjunctiva, a thin membrane that totally surrounds your eye in a pouch, and your contact lenses can’t slip behind this natural barrier.
  2. Moisturize: Saline solution or rewetting drops will loosen the lens, making it easier to remove from your eye. Don’t be stingy with saline or drops, the more moisturizing solution you apply, the greater the chances it will simply flush the contact lenses out. If that doesn’t happen, blink repeatedly to move the lens, or close your eyelid and massage it gently to move the contact lenses into a better position for removal.
  3. Look the other way: Try to determine where your contact is, then look in the opposite direction and lift your eyelid. Once you see it in the mirror, gently touch it with your fingertip, drag it down and pinch it out. Don’t attempt to remove your contact when it is over your cornea because this can lead to a very painful scratch. Instead, drag the lens towards the white of your eye. While you do this, use saline drops to rewet as necessary, which helps the contact lenses slide more easily.
  4. Ask for help: If you can’t get the contact lens out of eye, don’t persist – as this can cause damage to fragile eye tissues. Contact our East Plano eye doctor for assistance. We’ll try to talk you through the removal over the phone, or you can come to our clinic. After we safely remove your lens, we’ll perform an eye exam to check for any scratches and to treat any irritation that may have been caused.

When hard GP contact lenses get stuck

The above advice refers to soft contact lenses, but what about when a hard gas-permeable lens gets dislodged? In this case, avoid massaging your eyelid, as this can cause the GP lens to scratch your cornea. Instead, gently press your eye on the outside edge of the lens in order to break the suction that’s keeping your contact lenses firmly positioned in your eyes. Or- use a specialized suction device that’s sold in drugstores to help remove the lens.

Nothing working? Call for an eye exam

When you really can’t remove a stuck contact lens, don’t persist. Call immediately to schedule an urgent eye exam in our East Plano, Texas, optometry office, and we’ll remove the lens for you. If you’ve managed to remove the lens, but your eye still feels irritated, see our eye doctor as soon as possible. Lasting irritation can be a sign of a corneal scratch that requires medical attention.

At Switalski Eye Care, we put your family's needs first. Talk to us about how we can help you maintain healthy vision. Call us today: 469-421-5432 or book an appointment online to see one of our East Plano eye doctors.

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