Contact Lens wearers I need your help.

I’m currently trying to have contacts fitted. First time round, the optician or contacts specialist…I’m not sure what he’s officially called, tried about eight times, he started with my right eye and told me to look down to the left while he slid the contact onto my eye. But my eye just started throwing a fit and it kept resisting.

Thursday will be the last time he’ll try to fit them, so does anyone have any tips on how to keep my eye calm or resist the resistance? :slight_smile:

I really want contacts.

I can’t imagine I know more than the contact lens specialist guy, BUT I have passed this tip on to several friends who found success with it. When you are putting the lens in yourself, don’t stand/sit in front of a vertical mirror … put a mirror down on a table and stand over it. Something about this position makes it easier for a newbie to get the contacts in.

Ah but the trouble is, contacts guy has to put the contacts in himself the first time.

Try doing it yourself so that you haven’t got that “aargh, someone’s sticking something in my eye!” feeling. You can also get a good firm grip on your own eyelids to hold them open without freaking out. If you can’t get on with these ones, try some of the super-thin daily disposable ones. The second you have them in your eye, you can’t feel a thing.

I also tend to place mine directly into place, rather than putting them in at the edge and sliding them over. I find the edges of my eyes more sensitive, plus the lenses are shaped to fit over the cornea, so they don’t make a seal when you put them in at the side, and the wrinkle or bubble underneath can cause them to jump out. If I do happen to blink when I’ve just put them in, they’re over the cornea already, so the blink just settles them rather than knocking them out (folding them over, pushing them under the eyelid, etc!).

I’ve been wearing lenses since I was eighteen. Life would be most inconvenient without them, so good luck!

Just saw your reply: why? No-one ever put mine in for me.

I’ve worn contacts for years, and I never remember anyone else putting them in (but I could be forgetting), so I’m curious … does he really have to be the one to get them in, or is it just that it works out okay for 99% of the people so that’s the way he does it? If part of your issue is some strange guy coming at your eye, you might have better luck doing it yourself under his coaching.

I don’t get why someone else has to put them on for you either. When I got my first pair 15 years ago, I had to do it myself. It took 20 minutes but they wouldn’t let me leave until I’d done it myself.

I don’t really know why he has to do it, I asked if I could put them in myself and he said no. I assumed that had always been the case?

Tell the contact guy to let you try yourself, if he can’t get them in. He doesn’t have to put them in, that’s just stupid if it’s not working. I’ve been wearing contacts for over 30 years and I’ve never heard of this, not even back when I first got contacts.

I started out in hard contacts, so I use a different method. For a newbie, it’s definitely easier to do this over a mirror laid flat on the counter - helps keep the contact horizontal so it doesn’t slide off your finger so easy.

Put the contact on the index finger of the hand on the same side as the eye. Open your eye wide and use the other hand to pin your top lid up. Use the 2nd or 3rd finger of the hand with the contact to pull down your lower lid. Stare at your eye in the mirror (leaning over the counter). Bring the contact up and gently place it directly on your eye, just a little under your pupil. Slide it up & down just a tiny bit to set it and then very carefully blink. (Sometimes you have to grab your top lid and pull it out and down over the contact rather than just blinking straight down, to keep from knocking the contact off until it seals down.)

You might practice a bit before your appt. Wash your hands well, and use some saline solution to moisten your fingertip. Practice touching the white part of your eye gently. It takes a while to get over the weirdness of sticking something in your eye. I wore one contact at a time for months, because it took me 30 minutes to get the bugger in at first.

Good luck!

Just saw your last reply. I’ve never, ever, ever heard of this before, and I know lots of people in contacts.

I’d complain to his boss. If that doesn’t work, demand a copy of your prescription and go somewhere else.

Ditto for me too. The area all around my eye was red and raw from holding it open. One time at an eye appointment the doctor offered to put them back in for me. I figured, what the hell, why not…that was an odd feeling.

Personally, I look right at it as I put it in, watching my fingertip coming at my eye. I use a mirror also. Oh, and I hold my lower eye lid down with the middle finger of the hand holding the lens (helps me to guide it) and my other hand is holding my upper eye lid open.

You just have to get it down those first few times, whatever method you use, it’ll become second nature after about a month or so (yeah, it takes a while).

Tell that specialist guy to quit messing around and let you try it. I have worn contact lenses for 30 years, and have never had someone else put them in.

They don’t have to go in right over your cornea. Just hold your lid open, so you won’t blink, and push it onto your eyeball. You should hear and feel a little suction as the lense sticks to your eyeball. Now, blink a few times and it should center onto your cornea.

Thank you for advice. :slight_smile:

I’ll try to be insistent when I go in that I want to try it myself first time but I have a feeling that it’s just standard practice there, I agree it is stupid. I’ll ring around rival opticians and see how they deal with contacts.

Another thing is he doesn’t hold my eye open whilst trying to put them in, he doesn’t ask me to do so either. I imagine that doesn’t help matters.

My contacts guy put 'em in for me the first time, and I admit I had to hold my head with one hand to keep from pulling away, but that was probably purely psychological. Like many things in this life, such as getting a note out of a trumpet, the key to doing it is to have done it, and once you manage it by hook or by crook, you’re golden.

BTW I don’t use my fingertip but the inside edge of my top index finger joint (hand turned palm to chest, not fully supinated). Top tip to reduce the chances of the little bugger turning inside out as you offer it up.

I think the very first time I got contacts, the contact guy put in contact lenses in my eyes. These were not my contact lenses, but lenses for him to figure out which ones I should get. If I understand contact lenses correctly (which is not a guarantee), besides the optical power, different lenses have different sizes. In other words, not everyone has the same size eyeballs. Or do they?

So the first time sizing makes sense to me. As for why the tech guy puts them in, I think it is usually simpler. Since you are looking away from him, you don’t get the instinctive reaction to blink or turn away. The first time I had to put lenses in myself it took 20 minutes! But with the contact lens guy putting them in for me, it didn’t take time at all.

I think you need to relax and not pay attention to what is going on. Look away and pretend nothing is happening to your eye.

Edited to add: I think if you tried to do it yourself it would actually be worse.

What happens after Thursday? They give up and you have to get contacts somewhere else?

When I first got mine they sat me down and I tried until I could do it by myself. Make sure your finger holding the lens is dry, otherwise the lens will want to stick to your finger more than your eye. You’ll eventually get it. I used to be pretty squeamish about my eyes. It’s amazing how comfortable you get though - it’s like when you learn to ride a bike and you can’t remember how you ever had trouble with it.

I definitely feel relaxed but my eye just starts freaking out and blinking. Glad though having someone else fit it on the eye turned out to be normal experience I was worried he was doing something wrong. If I could get my eye to do what my brain is telling it to do then things would be so much easier.

Also he said some people have sensitive eyes and can’t wear contacts. Hope my eyes aren’t too sensitive :frowning:

I think after this appointment the lenses they bought for me will “go off” so to speak as they’re three weeks old and they’ll have to order new ones in.

Yes, besides power, the optometrist measures the curb of your eyeball and what he thinks (I guess) would be the best size for your eye (the diameter). These are written on your prescription. However, once they’re in your eyes, only you can tell which ones fit right. I prefer larger contact then the those prescribed by my doctor because they wiggle around less.

Acorns, try poking your eye a bunch of times before you go again. That should make your eyes less sensitive.

Meant to edit previous post. Can’t find delete button.

Ask for a pair to take home and try to put in yourself. There’s no need for you to sit in the office with someone watching you.