first pair of contact lenses

[Yuri-G]

Auuuuggghhhh my blood pressure has gone through the roof today trying to get these things in. It takes me about an hour, and I already ended up losing one when it was stuck in my eye and I tried to get it out, and it fell (I searched, but couldn't find it).

Anyone who has contact lenses have any advice? My problem is I keep blinking before I can get it in, which of course knocks the contact out of alignment and I have to put it back on my finger and start over. Lather rinse repeat about 100 times before I finally get ONE in. I can't really reach over my head with my other arm and pull up my eyebrow, for some reason I find that even more difficult. I hear this is supposed to get easier after you've had them for a while but right now I'm just wishing my damn eyelid reflexes would slow the hell down and let me poke around in there, lol.

[Ksandra]

Just be patient and you'll get used to it eventually. I first got contacts in 8th grade and same situation as you. Took me two hours to put one contact in, then another two to take them out. I started wearing them on weekends just because I didn't have the time during the week to deal with it. Bit by bit though my eyes calmed down and I got faster at it.

My only suggestion would be if you're tearing up too much just stop, calm down go do something for 15 minutes and try again. Don't worry about using them regularly until your body becomes calmer at you sticking your finger on your eye.

[The_OG_Nelta]

It gets a shit ton easier, and you will get so use to it, you will be able to toss it and catch it in your eye.

But seeing as you may be using your pointing finger to hold the contact, take your right hand middle finger, pull down bottom eye lid with that finger, left middle finger, top eye lid, and put it in.

[0ni0n]

Yup, it's gonna take some time at the beginning. It used to take me about 20-25 mins total for both eyes, and now it literally takes less than one min. Hell, I don't even need a mirror anyway to put in or take out contacts.

[Luciola]

just put a few drops of solution in the contact (sort of like a bowl) and stick it in your eye. It will just suck itself to your eye with no problem. The only problem is you dont want to poke your eye with your finger.

[Meian]

Indeed, took me about 45 minutes to put it on my first time. Becomes very easy overtime that you can do it without thinking about it. Ksandra pretty much nailed it.

[Yuri-G]

Thanks, it's really comforting to hear that most people struggle this much when they first start wearing them. I think the worst part was how frustrated I was getting, which was just making it harder, and I was starting to wonder if I was ever gonna be able to do this. It's nice to know that my eye reflexes will start to calm down eventually and allow me to stick them in there, I wasn't sure if this would be worth it if my blink reflex keeps being such a bitch. I'll go get a new pair tomorrow (found the lost one, but it was dried up and a piece tore off) and try it again.

I also like the idea of just putting them down if it's not working and coming back later. I'm gonna have to try that. I'm embarrassed to admit how worked up I got when it was taking me forever, lol

[Julian]

First few days were hell, about a week in it was pretty much automatic

[foopy]

my strat:

place a contact on your right index finger, place a drop or two of solution in it.

get REALLY close to a mirror (after 10yrs, i still can't do it without a mirror >.>, within 6 or so inches. place your left index or middle finger on your eye lid, close to your lashes, and gently pull up with it. take your middle finger of your right hand, and place it on your lower lid, again, really close to your eye lashes, pulling down gently. this will really open up your eye, and steady your hands.

now, try to aim for the bottom of your iris, and slowly touch the bottom of the lens against it. the rest of the contact will suck right on.

good luck!

[0ni0n]

Also, use some eye drops before putting the contacts in will make it easier as well.

[BadKarma]

i punched and broke a mirror and said fuck it, i still like my glasses when i got contacts

[Siralin]

I think I remember my eye doctor asking if I had used contacts before because I got them in so easy..Who knows, anyway...The way I do it is:

1. Get contact on on index finger of my right hand
2. Tilt head down so you're almost looking straight down.
3. Use index or middle finger of left hand to lift your upper eyelid and hold in place.
4. Use your middle finger on your right hand (The one holding the contact) to hold your lower lid down.
5. Press contact in.

Works for both eyes and you don't really have to go over your head wither either hand. Just lift your upper lid from the side or w/e. I know some people just don't like things near/in their eyes so contacts might not be for you. I couldn't stand opening my eyes under water before I got contacts so I figured I'd have trouble with them when I got them. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

[Yuri-G]

For some reason I have incredible difficulty holding my eyelid up, I have no problem holding the bottom part down, just holding the top part up. I think I'm a neanderthal and my brow just protrudes too much lol

I've gotten it just holding down my bottom eyelid a couple of times though, it just takes a lot of concentrating on not blinking... easier said than done.

For what it's worth, I have no problem opening my eyes underwater, if only that meant I'd be good at this

i punched and broke a mirror and said fuck it, i still like my glasses when i got contacts

I totally bruised my finger when I realized I had lost one of the lenses already, I hurled the bottle of contact solution into the tub as hard as I could figuring it wouldn't hurt anything, except my medicine cabinet was open a little further than I thought and my finger got whacked on it. So yeah, I totally hear you.

[Sqwunk]

What I do when I decide to wear them, Besides holding my eyelids open, which you don't really need to reach over your head to do, it just seems like that's the way to do it.

I look completely one direction, >.>, like so. And then stick the contact lens to the side of my eye. Then I look forward while the contact is still touching my finger. My eye slides right into position with the contact and I close my eyes to let them adjust to something being stuck on them.

[Darunia]

I used to wear contacts alot, my strategy was to always put a drop in your eye first, a drop in the contact lense, place on index finger of your prefered hand, use middle finger to pull lower lid down (fuck pulling top lid up thats just irritating as hell) and always look as far up as you can, this will also open your eye up alot more than looking to the side or down.
After a few tries youl get the feeling for when its on properly and because you arent looking at the lense it seems to make a difference in the reflex action of your eyelids.

[Azkarin2]

Just practice. I started wearing them in third grade and it takes me less than 30 seconds in the morning. It is frustrating to get your eye not to blink so try practicing without a contact so you don't have to lose it and spend time finding it. Just bring your clean index finger really close to your eye and practice not blinking. Once you find your best way to hold your eye open it just takes a few times to get the routine down then your set.

[Katlan]

Like everyone else said... Practice will make it way easier. Takes me 30 seconds now, but I went through ur pain starting out lol.
Put a drop of solution on the contact, have it sit in the center, and then try putting it on. It will such right onto ur eye that way & helped me until I turned pro. But it just takes time for ur eye to stop fighting u also. Have fun!

[Pabst]

I tilt my head down slightly while looking up. Same strat as most people here discuss with using the other hand to hold an eyelid open ( I prefer the bottem eyelid). Make sure there is some solution in the contact, makes it sooo much easier and less painful when you have it in wrong.
There are times when I have issues putting them in and one of the things I like to do is as soon as the contact is in I blink a few times. The contact should move to the center after a few blinks.

And to get over the fear of poking yourself in the eye.. try poking yourself in the eye (make sure your fingers clean) not hard, more like a tap. Once you get used to that you shouldn't have a problem about anything going near your eyes.

[Talus]

Yeah when I first got contacts, I was in the optometrist's office with the assistant trying to get the goddamn things in. It took like 45 minutes for me to do it. They were pretty encouraging even though I was tempted to just say "Fuck this shit, I'll stick with glasses."

They wanted to make sure I could get them in by myself before they'd let me leave, and I don't know if they would have chained me to the chair or something but yeah. I think my initial problem with trying to push the contact onto my eye. My technique is I pull my lower lid down, look up, and lightly touch the contact to my eye. I have long eyelashes and they would get in the way at first as well, it was all together frustrating. But yeah, like everyone else said, it gets way easier the more often you do it. Don't think about pushing/pressing it onto your eye - all you will do is flip it inside out and have to pull it off and straighten it out before you try again.

Getting them off was always easy for me though, just clean hands (obviously, clean them before you put the contacts in too, this is a no-brainer), lightly touch the middle of the lens and slide it away from your iris/pupil and pull it off. The weird part to get used to is touching your eye for most people.

[Fhloston]

I used to wear contacts alot, my strategy was to always put a drop in your eye first, a drop in the contact lense, place on index finger of your prefered hand, use middle finger to pull lower lid down (fuck pulling top lid up thats just irritating as hell) and always look as far up as you can, this will also open your eye up alot more than looking to the side or down.
After a few tries youl get the feeling for when its on properly and because you arent looking at the lense it seems to make a difference in the reflex action of your eyelids.

This is pretty much what I did. I remember my first pair, it took me about 30 mins trying to get a contact in one eye.....though it wasn't so bad since my optometrist was insanely hot and was helping me put it in. But yeah, you'll get used to it, I wasn't using a mirror anymore either. Though I eventually went back to glasses.