If you are a new lens user you may be wondering how to overcome the blinking reflex which prevents you from inserting a contact easily. You know by now that your lid will instinctively twitch shut in response to a foreign object touching your eye. This protects your delicate cornea but can make it extremely difficult to insert a soft contact lens. Some people have no problem overcoming this automatic response but others they need lots of practice.
You don't have to give up and go back to glasses if you are willing to take things slowly and keep trying until you find what works for you. Here are some suggestions to help you through those first few weeks of lens wear. We are going to start with a desensitization technique for working with your eyes and then we will move on to inserting contacts. This article assumes that you have been taught the basics of lens care (cleaning, storage, proper use, etc.) by your optometrist.
Preparation Exercise
Cut your fingernails very short - they can grow back later. Scrub your hands thoroughly with hot water and soap for at least two minutes and dry them on a clean, lint free towel.
Put a few drops of sterile lens solution on the tip of your index finger. Hold your top and bottom eyelids open with your other hand and look directly into your own eye in the mirror.
Slowly bring your fingertip to the outside corner of your eye and very gently touch the sclera (the white part) of your eyeball. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR CORNEA! The white part of your eye is not very sensitive to touch and this should not hurt at all.
This exercise is designed to help you get used to deliberately touching your eyeball without blinking. Repeat steps 1 and 2 a few times and then take a break. If you are very nervous you may want to do this exercise for a few days before you move on to actually putting your contacts in.
Inserting a Lens
Place clean paper towels all over the area where you will be working because you will drop your contact at some point while you are learning to insert it. Always clean and rinse the contact in sterile solution when you drop it on the paper towels and before you attempt to touch it to your eye again.
If you drop your contact somewhere dirty, discard it and get a new one. It is not worth risking an infection in your eye and permanent vision impairment over even the most expensive contact lens.
Always look at yourself in the mirror and not directly at the finger that is coming toward you. You won't be able to overcome your visceral blinking reflex if you are staring at that approaching lens. It will just heighten your awareness that something is about to touch your eye!
Very carefully place the contact on your cornea. It should adhere with no problem if you just barely touch it to your eyeball. Slowly close your eyelids over the lens. Don't squeeze your eye shut at first or the contact may fold over and come out.
Alternate Method
As an alternative to looking straight in the mirror, some people prefer to roll their eyeball upward so that they can place the contact mostly on the sclera. Just make sure the contact is very well moistened (fill the little cupped surface of the contact completely with solution) and gently let it attach itself to your eye.
Release the eyelids gently over the contact to hold it against your eye and then very slowly begin blinking. You may need to irrigate your eye again with solution during this phase.
As you continue to gently blink, the contact should begin to slide up the surface of your eye until it lands on the cornea. If your contacts have been properly fitted they should naturally cup over the cornea and stay in place.
If you use this method of putting the lens on the white of your eye you may occasionally have to go fish the contact out from inside your lower eyelid. Place the tip of your finger on the exposed edge of the contact and drag very lightly upward to accomplish this. Remember to breath - don't panic. The lens will not get permanently lost in your eye socket.