Contact Lens Removal Tips

Video Transcript

"My name is Dr. James Kirkconnell of Bellevue Eye Care Center in Nashville, Tennessee and I wanted to give you some tips as far as how to take out contact lenses especially if you are a new wearer. First we are talking about a soft lens and to take out a soft lens the best way is to actually touch the lens close to the center of your vision and then make sure you keep your finger there and then look up and then you bring your thumb inside your lashes to pinch the lens out. A lot of people do use a mirror to see where they are touching but once you get the hang of it you don't really have to use a mirror to take your contact lens out. If you have an eye which is somewhat dry and it is not coming out you can put in a lubricant drop in order to help, that is something that doesn't happen very often but it does help. Now there is a second type of contact lens which is still fit and that is the rigid gas permeable. That is less than half the percent of what I fit today but those are different because like small tiddlywinks which are smaller than your cornea and the way that that is taken out is a person does better if he or she is looking down and then you look 20 degrees towards your nose you open your eyes wide and you pull and you blink and you want to catch that in your hand or you want to have yourself over a table where you are not going to lose the lens so if you are a hard contact lens wearer and you are having your trouble getting yours out that is a better way to get it out because when you look towards your nose you just have more of the lids to go ahead and help lift it off. A final way to get a rigid gas permeable off is with a suction cup which costs about $3 that you may have to go to an eye care practitioner to get and the suction cup part is very small and that is a foolproof way to take it out if you're having problems."