Contact Lenses Care

Occasionally a lens will be displaced from the cornea onto the white of the eye or under the eyelids. This may occur during wear, or during a faulty insertion. You’ll know that the lens is not in place by covering the other eye: if your vision isn’t sharp, then the lens is not on the cornea. Don’t worry that the lens will be lost behind the eye: anatomical barriers (the conjunctiva, which covers the sclera and underside of the eyelids in a continuous sheet) prevent this from happening. Don’t panic when the lens decenters; theoretically, a lens can remain decentered on the sclera for hours or even days, and there’s no harm done. I remember a patient of mine who came in to have her eyes examined. A month earlier she thought she had lost a lens, and since she had a spare, she simply inserted it. When I examined her, I found her “lost” lens—on the sclera! The lens had not bothered her nor caused any damage whatsoever. So if you don’t succeed at first in recentering a lens, relax and try again.

First find the contact lens either by opening the eyelids widely and looking in a mirror or feeling for the lens through the eyelid while it’s closed. Never touch the lens with your finger and push it around on the eye. This can scratch your cornea. As with insertion there are several methods from which to choose.

METHOD # 1

Look in the direction of the contact lens, and the cornea will slide beneath the lens and recenter automatically.

METHOD # 2

Keeping the eyelids closed, gently exert pressure through the eyelids to push the lens toward the cornea with your fingers.

METHOD #3

Gently push the lens into position with the upper and lower lid margin. If the lens is under your lower lid, tilt your head down, look up, and use the lower lid. If it’s under the upper lid, tilt your head back, look downward and use the upper lid margin. If the lens is to the side toward your ear, or in the corner toward your nose, place your fingertips on both upper and lower lids and use both lid edges to nudge the lens back in place.

METHOD #4

Sometimes the lens may adhere to the undersurface of the upper lid. In that case merely turn the upper lid inside out and remove the lens.

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