How Do I Remove a Rigid Contact Lens?

The key to removing a rigid contact lens is to use the lens' inflexibility to your advantage. When you create the right conditions, the lens removes itself.

Basic Removal

Contact Lens Case

You remove a rigid contact lens by gently pulling the outside corner of your eye back toward your ear while simultaneously looking down and blinking. Because the lens cannot yield, the blink pops it over the taut rim of the eye.

Complications

Since rigid contacts are small, one can slide above the pupil and get stuck beneath the eyelid. If this happens, it becomes impossible to remove the lens in the regular way.

Removal Tool

The best way to remove a stuck contact is with a tiny rubber suction cup designed for the purpose. You can obtain this tool from an optometrist. Even if the lens is too far beneath the eyelid to latch onto, your or your eye doctor can still use the edge of the suction cup to coax it down.