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Ds can't get contact out of his eye


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My advice would be to put a lot of saline (or some contact-friendly wetting drops) on it, in the eye, and give it a few minutes to re-hydrate before trying to get it off.

 

This happened to me a couple weeks ago - scared the dickens out of me (I've been wearing contact lenses for over 25 yrs). My eyes are rather dry. The stuck one seemed to be much too dry. It is the lens that is shaped differently for astigmatism, not sure if that was relevant. I was afraid I had really hurt my eye that night and wished I had waited a bit but I was so panicked I kept trying to grab it between my fingertip and thumb. Ouch.

 

ETA: I see he's been using some drops. I'd use straight saline if you have it and if that still doesn't work, and he can't get that suction up, I'd let him sleep in the lens and swing by the optometrist in the morning for some removal help. It wouldn't be the end of the world to sleep in the lens for one night.

Edited by wapiti
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Have him look to the side and use the pad of his finger to slide the contact over to the white part of his eye before trying to pinch it out. The white part of your eye is shaped different so the contact doesn't adhere to it like it does on the cornea.

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He says it's different from the one in his other eye......bl? I'm freaking now, I don't do eye stuff.

 

He's used about half a bottle of eye stuff, blinked, it ain't happening.

 

Don't freak.

My kids sleep in their contacts all the time out of pure laziness.

He's probably just really nervous and that's making it harder.

 

My contacts actually come out easier when they're dry...if he sleeps in them, they will be dry in the morning and should pop out easily.

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He says it's different from the one in his other eye......bl? I'm freaking now, I don't do eye stuff.

 

He's used about half a bottle of eye stuff, blinked, it ain't happening.

 

Don't panic. It happens occasionally and is a bit unsettling, but it will come out.

 

Have him try shutting his eye and moving his finger in a circular motion on his eyelid to see if it will loosen the contact lens. Then have him open his eye and try once again to pinch it gently between his thumb and forefinger.

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Years ago I had a soft lens 'stuck' on my eye. I used copious amounts of eye drops and tried and tried and tried to pick up the lens with my fingers. My eye was hurting like you wouldn't believe, but still the lens would not come out. It turned out that the lens had come out and fallen onto the floor where I couldnt see it and I was actually picking up the surface of my eyeball. Just make certain that this is not happening now. After that, flush the eye with lots of drops/saline, place a finger side-ways under the lower lashes and push the whole lower lid up against the eye. If the lens is there, this will push the lens up so it can be seen and grasped easily. If there is any redness on the eye I wouldn't use lenses for 24hrs to allow the eye to heal.

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Is it still centered in his eye or has it gotten lodged under his eyelid?

 

If it's still centered on the eye, then I would put in some eye drops, close my eye and try to pinch it up away from the eye through the eyelid and slide it to one side. That allows you to try to loosen it without actually scratching your eye. Once it's loose, he should be able to just blink it out.

 

If he can't get it out, he'll have to go see his optometrist tomorrow morning.

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Yeah, I've tried to get a contact out of an eye that didn't have a contact in it! Ouch.

 

But those first days are tough. He'll get used to it and pretty soon he'll be a pro, aside from the occasional odd thing we all have here and there:)

 

Glad he can get help tonight so he doesn't have to stress about it!

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We're back. Doc and his wife met us at the office. Small towns are wonderful. Doc got it out, and threw it away. Apparently something was off with it??? I was too tired to pursue it. He told us he had a patient once that almost dug her eye out trying to remove a lens that was already removed.

 

I thought it would be pushing it to ask him to x ray my foot. And btw, it doesn't hurt when I'm walking on it???

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Don't freak.

My kids sleep in their contacts all the time out of pure laziness.

He's probably just really nervous and that's making it harder.

 

My contacts actually come out easier when they're dry...if he sleeps in them, they will be dry in the morning and should pop out easily.

That is very, very, very bad for the cornea!!! Every Pediatric Ophthalmologist we've ever seen (and we've seen MANY) won't let their patients wear extended wear contact lenses overnight because it's not good for the cornea. I think they would burst a blood vessel if one of their patients wore regular contact lenses overnight. If my children wouldn't remove them I wouldn't let them wear them, period. One of my friend's children almost had permanent vision loss from contact lens wear, and she wasn't abusing them.

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Glad you were able to get that resolved so quickly. I am still traumatized by the first two weeks after ds12 (then just ten and refusing to be seen in glasses no matter how blind he was) got his first contact lenses. He never got them stuck in, but we could have created a comprehensive encyclopedia of ways to lose and/or destroy lenses.

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
Glad you were able to get that resolved so quickly. I am still traumatized by the first two weeks after ds12 (then just ten and refusing to be seen in glasses no matter how blind he was) got his first contact lenses. He never got them stuck in, but we could have created a comprehensive encyclopedia of ways to lose and/or destroy lenses.

You should try contact lenses on a 7 month old:001_huh: They were medically necessary due to aphakia but that didn't mean she was cooperative at first, LOL.

 

To the OP, I'm glad they got them out and hope his next lens fits better!!

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Oh, I'm cringing! Some of these stories are terrible!

 

I know when I was young, my friend couldn't get his contacts in and out the first few days, so his mom would help him. He got used to it, and could do it himself after that.

 

Once I couldn't get mine out, and I slid it too far over and it went on the side of my eyeball. I freaked out... and I was an adult! It took so long to get it out because it kept going further and further back. I started imagining a doctor having to take my eyeball out to get it, lol.

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They told him if he slept in it that would be really bad and hurt his eye.

 

:iagree: I had this happen. I was young and stupid and this was before extended wear contacts. I wore them for at least four years and wasn't super careful about taking them out every night (alcohol might have been involved in some those decisions:D :001_huh:). Anyway after a few years it messed up the blood vessels growing in the back of my eyes (that what I was told) and had to go back to wearing glasses. I haven't worn contacts since.

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My father was a basbetball coach and had a player who got hit in the eye while wearing contacts during a game and the lense went behind his eye and flipped the opposite way. THat had to hurt!

 

How'd he get it out?!?!

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Guest Cheryl in SoCal
How'd he get it out?!?!

I don't know what they did but a contact lens will move back forward on it's own. It can't really get fully behind the eye because the conjunctiva prevents it.

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I'm glad to hear the doc got it out! When I first saw your thread I remembered a friend of mine from high-school tore her cornea off (not completely, but enough to do some damage) trying to get a lens out that was already out.

 

Sounds like you did the right thing. :)

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I have mentally blocked out those early weeks of wearing contacts, but I remember when my brother got his (I had them first). I kid you not, it took him 45 minutes to get them in and out each day. There is definitely a learning curve, but if he isn't too scared to try them again, have him try again today. If he is really paranoid, maybe you can have him practice putting them in and taking them out at the doctor's office.

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Glad the doc was able to help! Dd did this shortly after she started wearing contacts. We were on vacation at the time and had to go to a different opt. Turns out the contact wasn't in at all. I think she had dropped it when trying to put it in that morning. This is how we discovered that she actually didn't even need correction!:glare: I took her to a different doc when we got home. He agreed that her vision just wasn't bad enough to require correction. We never even returned to the prescribing optometrist who happened to be a long time family friend (no longer).

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Just want to commiserate with you! My son, 14, and husband both just got contacts for the first time on Monday. I've worn them for almost 30 years and I had totally forgotten that it's hard to get them in and out at first. So after three days now my husband is getting them in and out by himself (takes a while, though); my son can get them out but I am still putting them in for him. But he's making progress--today he held the contact on his own finger and I guided the finger to the right place on his eye. It worked! :lol:

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I don't know what they did but a contact lens will move back forward on it's own. It can't really get fully behind the eye because the conjunctiva prevents it.

 

Glad to hear this... I'll remember that if my contact ever goes behind my eye again. :D

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