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Contact lenses allow us to correct our vision and improve our eyesight without wearing the bulky glasses our grandparents once did. (Still do? Okay).
Though a monocle is always a dapper choice for men, and a lorgnette a swell accessory for a woman, you may have wanted to move onto contact lenses… without pinching your eye or poking it out.
A fair number of people who’ve yet to welcome contact lenses into their eye care regimen have done so because they find it quite daunting to touch their eyes every time they have to put in and remove the contacts.
If that’s you, we know the feeling.
The conventional method of removing contact lenses is by pinching. This might seem like you are trying to poke your eyes out for first-timers.
Fortunately, there’s a better way to remove contact lenses without pinching. We call it the “swipe” method.
Step-by-Step Guide to Removing Contact Lenses Without Pinching
Step 1: Wash Your Hands
Wash your hands with soap and water to eliminate harmful germs that should stay away from your eyes. Don’t leave any lather as it will irritate your eyes.
Use a clean, lint-free towel to dry your hands thoroughly to avoid getting water into the contacts. Ensure that there is no dust, debris, or even the finest particle on your fingers.
Before proceeding to the next step, prepare the lens case with a fresh solution for storing the contacts directly to prevent contamination.
Step 2: Remove the Contacts
Make a habit of starting with the same eye every time you remove contacts so that you never mix them up.
Use each middle finger to keep the eyes wide open by pulling and holding both the upper and lower eyelids. It is easier to use the dominant hand to pull the lower lid, but it depends on what you are comfortable with.
Look slightly upward and touch the bottom portion of your contact lens. Now comes the tricky part. Use a gentle swipe motion with your dominant index finger to slide down the lens from the cornea to the white area of your eye. You will feel that the lens is slightly raised from the eye surface.
Bring the dominant thumb near the same index finger to hold the lens by pressing together on its edges.
Voilà! Did you even feel a pinch?
Step 3: Clean and Store Contacts
If you are using single-use contacts, you needn’t store them. Just throw them away because they can’t be worn more than once.
For multi-use contacts, you need to store them properly for later use. Improper handling of lenses will result in eye infections. Therefore, you need to use a fresh solution every time to clean and disinfect the lenses from dirt, debris, and germs.
Take a fresh cleansing solution in your palm and use a clean finger to rub the contacts for 30 seconds on each side. Then, rinse the lens with a squirt of the solution.
Place left lens in “L” case. Put top on. Place right lens in “R” case. Put top on.
Close lids tightly and keep it in a safe place until next time.
Is the Pinching Method Really Harmful?
The pinching method of contact lens removal isn’t harmful in itself. But it requires a certain level of patience, confidence, and dexterity to avoid damaging the lenses, scratching your cornea, or in some cases, pinching your eye.
If you feel uncomfortable with this method, it’s simply not worth trying. You are only putting yourself at the risk of visual discomfort or even impairment.
We found the swipe method to be one of the easiest and safest techniques of contact lenses as an alternative to conventional pinching. You don’t have to touch the cornea at all; thus, there is little to no risk of accidentally hurting your eyes.
The lens wrinkles a little as you slide it down to the white part of the eye. You just need to grab it.
