Optometry Student or Tech Help - practice remove soft lens
My opthalmic surgeon requires that I discontinue wearing my gas permeable contact lens for 2 months to prepare for cataract surgery. I have the correct soft lenses to wear, but am helpless with getting the lens out on my own. I practiced in the UCSF Mission Bay office one morning, and could remove it a few times, but am not confident that home alone I can manage it, and Mission Bay is a long way to go if I get in trouble. How can I find a tech or nurse to help me practice at home until I can remove it smoothly. (Yes, it is the drooping eyelid which gets in the way).
Jun 1, 2022
Parent Replies
No recommendations but some tips. The soft lenses tend to stick to your eye a bit more than gas permeable, so it's a slightly different technique. You have to sort of pinch the lens with two fingers (I use thumb and index finger). Try flooding your eye with saline first, but making sure your fingers are completely dry before you do it. And it's also easier if your fingernails are short!
Also, I think (but I'm not sure about this) that the soft lenses are a bit larger, so make sure you are 'pinching' at the outer edges and not in the center.
Lastly, you might want to look online, too - there are YouTube videos for EVERYTHING.
FYI, as a longtime lens wearer, you are comfortable putting your fingers in your eye, which is the hard part for most people, so I'm sure you can do this!!
Optometrist here. Good recs above. Dry fingers are key. I would suggest calling UCSF to ask for more training until you feel confident. Most optometric offices will not send you home with contact lenses until both doctor and patient feel comfortable with insertion and removal of the lenses, so they may be able to schedule a follow up training session for you.