To ask for your sure-fire way of removing a contact lens?

[TimeIy]

Sorry for posting in AIBU but it is a dilemma, and I could do with the traffic.

I’ve been wearing soft daily contact lenses for a few months now. Popped out the right one earlier no problem, but the left one just isn’t shifting. My eye is now quite irritated. I did put in eye drops to try and counteract this, and to see if dryness was causing the issue, but it’s hadn’t helped.

Does anyone have some kind of a guaranteed way to remove it? Please don’t recommend some form of tool that I don’t have access to tonight.

Yours in sore desperation…

Stretch your eyelids open as wide as possible with your finger.

Make several blinking motions but don't blink enough to close your eye.

This usually dislodged it for me.

If you still think it's there in the morning, pop into Specsavers in the morning and they'll put in coloured drops to find it.

Garden hose

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I’ve tried most of them (bar the garden hose- lord knows I’ll try anything in the morning) but still no joy.

I’m beginning to think it fell out. I managed to tolerate the discomfort for long enough to hold my eye open and shimmy my finger across the iris which is how I normally check the position of the lens, but it wasn’t in front of my iris.

I can definitely feel something in there, but until the sore puffiness dies down, I don’t know for definite if it’s a lens or just irritation.

Going to sleep on it and check again tomorrow.

I’m traveling for work tomorrow and need to leave before my usual Specsavers opens. I assume that I can go to any Specsavers and they’ll see me, even if it’s not my usual store?

Yeah I would have thought so Timely you are a customer. Good luck with it!

This

Usually when I thought one really wasn’t coming out it was because it was already out.

Any specsavers will help you for sure and tbh I imagine any opticians would. They're healthcare professionals, they're not going to turn to away with something in your eye because you're not a customer (that's my experience anyway when I wandered into a optical express, I think, thinking I had grazed my eye)

Have you got an eye bath? Bathing your eye with sterile saline would reduce the surface tension between your eye and the lens, if it's still there, and might help it come out.

Any optician should see you with that sort of problem but it might be sensible to go somewhere with enough staff to have a contact lens specialist on site.

This is so helpful, I've grown my nails long and can't pinch them any more. Thank you!

Ugh, I am a veteran at this (i.e. getting the bugger stuck, sadly not getting them out).

A while back I had this problem and eventually came to the conclusion it MUST have come out but something was still irritating my eye. I went to Specsavers (my usual optician) and the lady there used iodine dye and could see that a bit had chipped off, as it were, and had scratched my eyeball, but couldn't find her bit itself 😳

Long story short it wound its way out later after a LOT of eye baths (I ❤️ eye baths) and the scratches healed pretty quickly. I find the Systane lubricant drops are the most effective. Very best of luck!!

I pinch with my thumb & knuckle of my index finger, years of wearing lenses & nail extensions made this the safest method for me. Like op have said, loads of lubricating eye drops & it should appear.

One time this happened- I used a cotton bud to lift my eyelid and could see the edge of the lense.
lots of massaging the eyelid and it went back into place.

it’s scary when it happens!

Sometimes there isn’t a contact lens in your eye anymore and you just don’t realize.

put a ton of eye drops in your eye and go lay down with your eyes closed for 10 minutes or so. Just let everything mellow.

Then cover your other eye and check your vision. does your vision seem corrected or not?

if yes, now try removing your rehydrated contact lens. If not, you probably popped it out earlier and dropped it.

Agree with @Ponderingwindow
My eyes get very dry and dailies really stick to my eyes badly and are almost always difficult to remove because they are so thin. I wear monthlies and have a much easier time. I will saturate my eye with saline lens cleaner, like doing an eye wash, and like prev poster said, wait a bit and try again. Try using a magnifying mirror to see if you can see the contact's blue rim on you eye as well. I also keep my nails cut short or I end up scratching my eye.

Just to add that contrary to the poster directly above, I found monthlies much harder to get in and out - dailies just seem to stay more hydrated in my eye, and are less likely to scratch it I think - so it's horses for courses!

Did you get it sorted, @TimeIy ?

Yes! Specsavers to the rescue. They had no problem taking me as a walk-in to a store near where I was working today. They used coloured drops and a lot of poking and checking with the slit lamp/microscope thingy confirmed that there was no lens in my eye, and the irritation was from all my prodding around.

No more contact lenses for a few days, and I need to up my usage of eye drops as my eyes are quite dry in general (side-effect from medication I take). I always thought eye drops were on an as-needed basis, but turns out that I should be using them four times a day to prevent dryness.

Thanks everyone for all the hints and tips. I did try practically all of them! Feel a bit silly that there was no lens in, but the Optician assured me that it happens regularly and I was best to get it checked out just in case.