Could I damage my eyelid by trying to put in contact lenses?

gonedrinking

I am practising at home to try and get contact lenses in, I am trying to overcome my blink reflex, but it is still very strong. Could I damage my upper eyelid by physically forcing it open when my eyelid is naturally trying to close?

ethernet

It's quite normal to raise your upper eyelid and pull down your lower lid to make enough room for the lense to sit properly on the eye. Have a look at some videos and YouTube and you'll see this is how most people do it. It would take some amount of control to resist blinking!

Be sure you have a clean mirror and lots of light. Really makes it a lot easier.

If you're still feeling uncomfortable with it, definitely go back to where you purchased the lenses and make an appointment for another demonstration or even to double check the lenses are the right size. Best of luck!

endplate

Holding your eye lids open by gripping your eye lashes is a very effective method to counteracting your blink reflexes

gonedrinking

thanks for the replies. Wouldn't holding my eyelids open by gripping my eyelashes just rip the eyelashes off?

I have tried holding my eyelid open a couple of different ways but just can't seem to be able to keep my eyelid open. Perhaps I should just apply a lot more pressure to my eyelid and really push it up and inwards?

Foggles

You need to look down and with your opposite arm reach over the top of your head and grip your eyelid with one or two fingers at the slightly hard bump right at the lid margin. Then instead of pulling up your lid you bend your fingers at the knuckle and in doing so will open the top lid.

This is best demonstrated so I recommend a re-teach at your optometrist office but if you take your time you may well get there on your own.

carveone

I never used that method cause I'd pull the eyelashes off

I found that using my middle finger of my left hand to pull the skin up (no gripping, just friction - won't work if the skin is wet) just under the eyebrow was enough to stop me blinking. Try it now, you prob can half close the eye that's about all.

Then with the middle finger of right hand use the same method to pull down skin under the eye - about the point where you'd have bags under the eyes after a long night.

If the contact was sitting on your index finger you'd be able to place it on your eye by staring fixedly at your finger and bringing it up.

Do it without a contact (prob don't actually touch your eye!) You should find that you can bring the fingerprint part of your index finger right up to your eye without flinching.

With a contact, the tricky bit is to mentally overcome the urge to blink and use your fingers to reinforce that. If you are going to blink it's gonna happen - your fingers won't hold it.

I found that if I blinked after the contact was just placed, it would sometimes fold. Which is really annoying. So, after it was placed, I gently pulled the eyelid up and over by pinching the eyelashes.

carveone

I'll add that very little pressure should be necessary and you probably shouldn't use too much - you'll end up poking yourself in the eye or pulling eyelashes off and dropping them in the eye (that's great when they're under a contact!).

When the optometrist gets you to look at a spot and then peers into your eye with a ocularathingy (whatever it's called), (s)he'll put his/her thumb just under the eyebrow and raise the skin up to stop you blinking. It's pretty effective and requires very little in the way of pressure.

Women are pretty good at it - I think it's from dragging pencils on their eyelids :P

gonedrinking

carveone wrote: »

With a contact, the tricky bit is to mentally overcome the urge to blink and use your fingers to reinforce that. If you are going to blink it's gonna happen - your fingers won't hold it.

Yes thats what I was thinking really, if you want to blink then there is no way of forcing your eyelid to stay open. So basically its a psychological matter rather than a matter of technique?

carveone

gonedrinking wrote: »

Yes thats what I was thinking really, if you want to blink then there is no way of forcing your eyelid to stay open. So basically its a psychological matter rather than a matter of technique?

I'd say that's a decent aspect of it. That's why I found I needed to look at the contact as I was putting it in. The brain is hardwired to protect your eyes - if it can see an object coming towards it, it tells your eyelids to shut for a second. It's a reflex response. But it can be overridden, although your mind doesn't like it much

Also you can't take all day about it otherwise your eyes start watering. Can't override that!

You'll find that you can touch your eyeball with a (clean!) index finger pretty easily. It's not a particularly nice feeling though.