Finally got some contacts

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I was taught to put the contacts in, near the top of the eye, or by looking upward - this way never worked for me.

What helps me, is putting the contact in the lower part of my eye.

I pull the lower lashes downward, then drop the contact in.

 
When they first taught me to put on contacts, they had me sitting in front of a mirror to try to watch myself put it in.

I've learned that for me, the way I was able to put them on best was to not use a mirror, and bend myself over so my head was parallel to the floor.  I had the contact lens balancing on my finger, and my eye hovering over it, and I'd actually just use my eye and look at the lens to gauge where I needed to aim the lens towards.  I'd use my opposite hand to hold open my eye lids (pointer finger holding the upper lid, thumb holding the lower lid) to force my lid to stay open.  Then I'd bring the lens to my eye to put it in.

 
Over time it will become a breeze to do.. Just make sure you rinse the soap off your hands throughly before you wash the contact lenses

 
i've worn contacts for 10 years. it's so easy for me now haha. what i do is instead of looking up or how they show you.

i just make sure theres a litle solution on the contact. put it on my right index finger. with my left hand i pull up my upper eye lid, and with my right middle finger i pull down my lower lid. and as i do this, i pop in my contact.  :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> and dont look up just look straight.

and make sure you're hands are clean especially the index finger. cuz if some little thing gets into the contacts then it'll hurt and you'll have to take them out and do it all over again.

 
I've been wearing contact lenses for 24 years (I can't believe it!)  I can do it when I'm half asleep.  I don't even need a mirror anymore.

Use a clean DRY hands to set a lens on your pointer finger.  Make sure that the lens is turned the right way in.  If it is turned inside out, it looks kind of warped and dented inwards.

Place the lens on your DRY pointer.  if your fingers are wet, the contact lens will want to stick to your fingers and make it harder to put on. 

I always put them on in front of a mirror.  Look upwards and put your lens in your eye.  Your eyes will want to shut if you look directly at your finger so look up and put the lens at the bottom of your eye.  Use a clean, dry finger on your other and to slightly pull down on your lower lid to widen your eye a bit.  Put in your lens.

Try not to put them on in front of a mirror that is directly over a sink or toilet.  For the first little while, place a clean white towel over the area in front of the mirror so if you drop it, you can find it more easily. 

 
I do that in my room for safety reasons, never in the bathroom. I bend my head over a mirror i placed on my desk (or any flat, hard surface), so they're parallel. I'm a lefty, so i use my index finger (on the left hand), to place the contact. With my middle finger i push down my lower lid, while the fingers of my right hand lift my upper lid. Make sure you keep that position and don't be afraid to go forward until you feel the contact on your eye. Then release gently and blink once or twice. Your contact will take its position naturally on your eye.

Like others have said, make sure you have clean, DRY hands. Make sure your contact is clean and rinsed, and laying flat against your finger.

If your eyes tend to get a bit dry, apply a few drops in each eye before putting on the contacts. You can use special drops or simply physiological saline. You can also apply one drop in your contact just before putting it on. Having humid eyes help a lot to bear contacts, especially when you're a beginner.

One thing i've noticed is if your eyes are puffy because of any allergy or infection, don't even bother. You won't be able to keep them on for long, and they'll get contaminated.

 
Thanks I'm going to try the tips you guys gave me.

By the way, which is better Hard or soft contacts?

 
Originally Posted by sephoras girl /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Thanks I'm going to try the tips you guys gave me.

By the way, which is better Hard or soft contacts?
Hard contacts are not as readily available anymore.  They are only really dispensed when I think you have some serious eye condition.  They are not the most practical things as they can pop out of your eye without warning.  They are also more expensive because you can't really buy them as a disposable lens like soft contacts.  If you can buy them as a daily or weekly replacements, they are better because they are cleaner and you can dispose them when they become uncomfortable.  I buy daily lenses but wear them for about a week.  They are exactly the same lenses, just marketed differently.  It does give you the option to throw them away when they start to irritate your eyes.  Monthly or yearly, you are pretty much stuck with them for a month or a whole year. 

If you are still having difficulty putting them one, put a small drop of saline in the bowl of your lens before you put it in your eye.  Hopefully, the saline solution will help draw the lens to your eyeball.

 
i wear soft. all the eye contact store workers people lol sorry dont know what to call them. always tell me to wear soft.

for a while i wore daily contacts. however they told me that daily contacts are not good for your eyes. you should stick with soft contacts that last a few months.

also every couple weeks i take in my contacts to have specially cleaned. that service is free.

 
There are pro's and con's to dailies and permanent lenses.

Hard lenses were more for people with astigmatism.  Because the lenses are actually shaped to your eye, they always stay right side up.  Because the lens is hard and the eye is soft, you can also mold your eye to be more "circular" (although this effect is not permanent, it can last at least a few months) which can help make your astigmatism not as strong.

Back in the day, the only lenses possible for people with astigmatism were hard lenses. They were a LOT clearer than my glasses and a LOT clearer than my soft lenses, but they weren't as comfortable.  You can feel them in your eyes and see them shift whenever you blink.  After about 10-30 minutes your brain "forgets" to feel them, and you learn to ignore the blinking.  They didn't really pop out at random times, but it could still be unexpectedly.  The way you take out a hard lens is to kind of...snap it out.  You pull on the side of your eyes to kind of force a really quick squint and it pops out.  So if you do a similar action (like looking to the side really quickly or blink really hard suddenly) it could pop out.  They could break if you put too much pressure on them, which soft lenses don't do (soft lenses can tear).

Astigmatism is actually a quite common occurrence in people, but they've got soft lenses available for them now.  I had exceptionally high levels of astigmatism, but I think they actually made weeklies by the time I had my PRK surgery last year.  (The weeklies were too weak for me, but the existence of them means they've come a long way since I first started wearing contacts.  Soft lenses were not even an option for me when I first started!)  The bottom part of the soft lens is actually weighted now to help keep the lens "right side up".  (a normal lens is exactly the same all the way around, but a lens for astigmatism is more like a cats eye football shape, and then the direction of the cats eye is different on eyes...so one eye might be the cats eye shape up and down, and one might be at a 45 degree angle, either way, if the lens spins, the prescription no longer fits, so it needs to stay in the right position).

The problem with soft lens is that the weight makes up for the spinning by helping to hold it into place, but it's not perfect.  The hard lens will attach to your eye based on its shape and not move or spin.  If you have weak astigmatism, you won't notice it so much, but if it's horrible like mine, then you notice if it moves half of a degree.  (my doc suggested my surgery since I was so sensitive to whenever the contacts would move, which was every few minutes.)

Long term lenses are made with higher quality materials that resist protein build up.  Because of this, you won't have a lot of protein that builds up from day to day use.  Daily lenses are made from cheaper materials that don't resist protein build up as much and aren't made to be able to withstand as many washings.  (Daily contacts aren't meant to be washed since they're intended for disposal after one use) They can be more uncomfortable because of this, especially after a long day of wear, but you don't have to worry about cleaning, losing, tearing, or anything cause you just toss them at the end of the day.

As far as wearing, just to re-iterate what people said. Clean hands helps prevent stuff getting into the eyes. Dry hands helps prevent the lens from attaching to your finger.  A drop actually inside the lens helps to pull the lens to your eyeball once the liquid touches your eye.  Like I said, I always used two hands (probably since blinking caused the hard lenses to pop out, so you want to make complete sure that you don't blink for the hard lenses), one to hold the eye open, and the other to touch the lens to my eye.  all good advice.

 
Originally Posted by Annelle /img/forum/go_quote.gif

There are pro's and con's to dailies and permanent lenses.

Hard lenses were more for people with astigmatism.  Because the lenses are actually shaped to your eye, they always stay right side up.  Because the lens is hard and the eye is soft, you can also mold your eye to be more "circular" (although this effect is not permanent, it can last at least a few months) which can help make your astigmatism not as strong.

Back in the day, the only lenses possible for people with astigmatism were hard lenses. They were a LOT clearer than my glasses and a LOT clearer than my soft lenses, but they weren't as comfortable.  You can feel them in your eyes and see them shift whenever you blink.  After about 10-30 minutes your brain "forgets" to feel them, and you learn to ignore the blinking.  They didn't really pop out at random times, but it could still be unexpectedly.  The way you take out a hard lens is to kind of...snap it out.  You pull on the side of your eyes to kind of force a really quick squint and it pops out.  So if you do a similar action (like looking to the side really quickly or blink really hard suddenly) it could pop out.  They could break if you put too much pressure on them, which soft lenses don't do (soft lenses can tear).

Astigmatism is actually a quite common occurrence in people, but they've got soft lenses available for them now.  I had exceptionally high levels of astigmatism, but I think they actually made weeklies by the time I had my PRK surgery last year.  (The weeklies were too weak for me, but the existence of them means they've come a long way since I first started wearing contacts.  Soft lenses were not even an option for me when I first started!)  The bottom part of the soft lens is actually weighted now to help keep the lens "right side up".  (a normal lens is exactly the same all the way around, but a lens for astigmatism is more like a cats eye football shape, and then the direction of the cats eye is different on eyes...so one eye might be the cats eye shape up and down, and one might be at a 45 degree angle, either way, if the lens spins, the prescription no longer fits, so it needs to stay in the right position).

The problem with soft lens is that the weight makes up for the spinning by helping to hold it into place, but it's not perfect.  The hard lens will attach to your eye based on its shape and not move or spin.  If you have weak astigmatism, you won't notice it so much, but if it's horrible like mine, then you notice if it moves half of a degree.  (my doc suggested my surgery since I was so sensitive to whenever the contacts would move, which was every few minutes.)

Long term lenses are made with higher quality materials that resist protein build up.  Because of this, you won't have a lot of protein that builds up from day to day use.  Daily lenses are made from cheaper materials that don't resist protein build up as much and aren't made to be able to withstand as many washings.  (Daily contacts aren't meant to be washed since they're intended for disposal after one use) They can be more uncomfortable because of this, especially after a long day of wear, but you don't have to worry about cleaning, losing, tearing, or anything cause you just toss them at the end of the day.

As far as wearing, just to re-iterate what people said. Clean hands helps prevent stuff getting into the eyes. Dry hands helps prevent the lens from attaching to your finger.  A drop actually inside the lens helps to pull the lens to your eyeball once the liquid touches your eye.  Like I said, I always used two hands (probably since blinking caused the hard lenses to pop out, so you want to make complete sure that you don't blink for the hard lenses), one to hold the eye open, and the other to touch the lens to my eye.  all good advice.
There is only really 1 way to make contact lenses.  It is a marketing ploy regarding longer term lenses over dailies.  After 24 years of wearing contacts, it used to just be 1 year lenses. I got my first pair when I was in Grade 11.  You need to use protein enzymes to get rid of protein build up on your lenses.  This is done on a weekly basis. You also need to disinfect your lenses with hydrogen peroxide.  The All-in-1 solutions have disinfectant and enzymes now.  If you don't use all in 1 solution, you'll still need to use protein enzymes on longer use lenses.  I have had yearly contact lenses that tore in half while it was in my eye. Since I only have 1 pair (because its suppose to last a whole year) I'm stuck with wearing glasses until I can re-order another pair.  When it became uncomfortable to wear, you would use the protein enzyme. 

With daily/weekly lenses, when they became uncomfortable, you throw them away!   It actually costs more to purchase dailies over monthly or 1 year lenses to last the same period of time. This is why I doubt that there is any difference between 1 year lenses over dailies. 

Toric lenses are for astigmatism.  Please note that if your prescription is higher, you will more than likely have astigmatism.  Torics are not as comfortable on me even tho I have astigmatism. 

There are also bifocal lenses now too. 

 
I would also add about hard contact lenses that because they are long term, you need to clean them with a deep cleansing product every week, say 10 days max, to keep them hygienic. They do stay firmly on your eye compared to a soft contact.

I personally was advised to take hard contacts (FIY i am myopic), because my eyes are naturally dry and my eye doc said soft contacts require a humid eye in order to be worn all day, so to me it would only mean irritation. i have my days i cannot wear my contacts because my eyes are too dry or irritated so i believe the doc was right in advising me hard contacts.

 
I have always wanted to try contacts (fashion purposes only), but I just can't get around to doing it.  Im too scared I won't be able to open my eye after I have them in...lol

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by divadoll /img/forum/go_quote.gif

There is only really 1 way to make contact lenses.  It is a marketing ploy regarding longer term lenses over dailies.  After 24 years of wearing contacts, it used to just be 1 year lenses. I got my first pair when I was in Grade 11.  You need to use protein enzymes to get rid of protein build up on your lenses.  This is done on a weekly basis. You also need to disinfect your lenses with hydrogen peroxide.
I was going based off personal experience.  I used to only wear hard lenses when they were the only kind available.  Then I went to the first versions of soft lenses that were available (at my prescription) that were only annuals.  The annuals were much thicker than the monthlies I used years later.  The annuals were actually the ... least likely to spin around as much causing vision problems.  The monthlies are significantly thinner, thus having less weight, and having a much higher chance to spin, but yes, being able to know that a lens doesn't need to last a full year feels more like "insurance" in case anything should happen during that year (since you'd have a backup at the end of the month).

Annuals I was able to wear anywhere from 14-16 months before they were too painful to keep wearing.  Monthlies lasted anywhere from 4-6 weeks.  This was using just the all in one cleaners (well the original versions you still had to "rub" to clean)  I tried a weekly a couple of times when they finally came out in my prescription but they spun around 180 degrees constantly which is far more than a minor change in vision, and by day 4 they were uncomfortable.  I think that there is a significant difference between comfort and time of the annuals versus dailies, as I said, since they were made to last longer.  My doctor told me also that the longer ones are more resistant to protein build up, because they can't afford to have the amount of build up you get with the shorter ones over time because they need to last a full year.

Hard lenses, you are given a special solution (mine was milky white, not sure if they're all like that) but it's kind of like a thin liquid soap that you use to wash your lenses.  You're supposed to do it every night when you take them out (at least were 15 years ago when I was wearing mine).

Toric lenses are the "weighted" lenses that I mentioned earlier.  They're probably not as comfortable since they are specifically shaped to try to correct the astigmatism.  I've never tried "normal" lenses since even if my myopia was fixed, the astigmatism would still leave me blind.  (I had  ... exceptionally bad eyesight)

 
Originally Posted by sephoras girl /img/forum/go_quote.gif

The only problem is I can't put them back in to save my life without blinking.

Any tips?

Don't get the extended wear.  I received a sample pair a while back and I also got eye infections on both eyes after wearing it for 4 days straight.  You are supposed to be able to wear them for 5 days straight at least before removing and soaking.  I would not recommend getting it.  I do have a few pairs for when I go on vacation for a couple of days so I don't have to remove them and store them over night when I'm not at home. I wouldn't wear them for longer than 2 days tho.

 
I think I may have a problem.

It seems the lens I have kinda stick to my finger and look kinda worn (from all the attempts)

Is it me or the contacts?

 
Its probably a little bit you and the contact lens. You'll have to make sure that the lens just sits and balances on your finger and has minimal contact with your finger not stuck.  If you are still having a little trouble, put a small drop of saline in the cup of the lens, the water will help adhere the lens to your eye. 

 

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