So You Lost Your Contact Lens in Your Eye. Here’s Exactly What to Do

A lost contact in your eye can be supremely unsettling, if not panic-inducing. There’s the fear that you won’t be able to find it and safely pluck it out…which can spiral all too quickly into worries about never being able to see again. Not to mention the ridiculously irritating and often painful sensation an errant contact can bring, thanks to the “incredible number of nerve endings on the surface of our eyes,” Ashley Brisette, MD, a New York-based ophthalmologist, tells SELF. Every passing moment that your contact is still missing can just make it feel more and more urgent that you locate it and get it out.

Plenty of different things can cause you to wind up with a lost contact, Andrea Thau, OD, a New York-based optometrist, tells SELF. One of the most common culprits? Rubbing your eyes in a way that shifts the lens around. Accidentally inserting an inside-out contact can also make it more mobile in your eye and make you more likely to rub since it’ll feel uncomfortable. Dry eyes might be to blame, too, Dr. Brisette notes. The condition can cause a contact lens to get stuck on a certain part of your eye, like under your eyelid, because it’s not moving with your blink as it normally does, she explains. (Things like screen time, certain cosmetics and skin-care products, medications like antihistamines and antidepressants, and overwearing your lenses can trigger dryness in the first place.) Wearing contacts that don’t fit can also make them dislodge easier (but if you’re getting your lenses refitted every year by your doctor, that shouldn’t be a problem). And sleeping in your lenses can also lead them to get wedged up underneath your eyelids or shoved to the side, Dr. Brisette adds.

No matter what causes your contact lens to suddenly become MIA, here’s how to handle the situation like a pro.

First, stay calm. Your contact lens can’t go very far.

It might seem like your contact just rolled behind your eye and is now swimming back toward your brain, but it’s not. That’s actually impossible. “There’s a membrane that covers the eye, called the conjunctiva,” Dr. Thau explains. “This membrane goes across the white of the eye and up and under the eyelid, creating a pouch all the way around.” This means your contact is trapped somewhere inside that pouch—there’s no way for it to move beyond it.

So do your best to avoid panicking. Freaking out about a lost contact in your eye can actually lead to some less-than-helpful behavior, Dr. Brisette says. In her practice, she’s come across plenty of people whose frantic drive to uncover a lost contact led them to poke or prod their eye so much, they wound up causing an abrasion or scratch—much more damage than would have been done if they’d stayed cool (and tried some less invasive strategies like the below).

Put a few drops of saline solution in your eye.

It’s generally safer to flush out than to fish out a lost contact, which is why both Dr. Thau and Dr. Brisette suggest lubricating the surface of your eye with saline solution, artificial tears, or any drops that are sold OTC for dry eye. “The moisture will help loosen up [the lens] and move it around, which makes it easier to remove,” Dr. Thau explains. The force of the liquid might even get it to come all the way out.

Just don’t flush your eye with tap water, Dr. Thau warns. “If your eye is irritated, there can be [microscopic tears or scratches], and microorganisms can get into your eye,” causing an infection, she says. And never squirt a contact-lens solution that contains hydrogen peroxide directly into your eye—again, any version of rewetting drops or regular ol’ saline is best here.

If you’re struggling to get the liquid into your eye without blinking, it might help to enlist a trusted friend to carefully drop it into the corner of your eye while you look away.

Look in the opposite direction of where you think the lens is located, and lift your lid to find it and maneuver it out.

You can do a little manipulation with your fingers to access and nudge out the lens—but before you put your hands anywhere near your eyes, give them a good wash first. You don’t want to mistakenly transport bacteria right onto your eyeball, Dr. Brisette says.

From there, do your best to assess where you think it is, even if you aren’t totally sure. Generally, it’s more likely to be under your upper lid because there’s more area and the stronger muscle is more likely to pull the lens up. Then, look away from that direction to locate it—so if you think it’s under your upper lid toward the right, lift the lid and look down and toward the left. A flashlight or phone light can help you spot it, Dr. Thau says, because contacts typically have a slight blue tint that can reflect in the light. “When you see it, lightly touch it with the tip of your finger and gently drag down and pinch it out,” she says. You always want to grab it when it’s over the white part of your eye—not on your colored iris or pupil, as this area is shielded by the cornea, which will “hurt like crazy if you scratch it,” Dr. Thau says. For the same reason, never use a sharp object like tweezers near your eye, Dr. Brisette says. It might seem like a good way to get leverage and pluck out the lens, but you risk poking your eye or otherwise causing serious damage.

If you truly have no idea where the thing is, you can also just try some gentle massage over your full eyelid to see if you can get it to come down, Dr. Brisette says. (Touching your lid is always a safer bet than poking around your actual eyeball while searching for it.) She also recommends continually flushing your eye if you’re having trouble, as the additional liquid will help it slip around more easily, perhaps to a place where you can see it.

If you can’t find it after a little while, try inverting your eyelid.

This means flipping your eyelid inside out, and it can admittedly be a little challenging to do on your own. “Look down, grab your [top] eyelashes, and pull the lid down and out slightly,” Dr. Thau instructs. “Then, push on the crease of the eyelid with a cotton swab and flip the lid up.” It can feel really uncomfortable, so you may want to enlist that trusted friend or loved one for help at this point—just make sure they wash their hands thoroughly before going anywhere near your eyes. Recruiting a fellow contact-wearer is even better.

Your eye should expel the lens eventually, but if you’re still uncomfortable, call your eye doctor.

“If it really gets tucked up there, it can be especially difficult to find,” Dr. Thau says. It can also just be pretty hard to examine your own eye in the mirror, Dr. Brisette points out, because you might be trying to look in a certain direction with the affected eye while using the other to locate the contact—but your eyes of course move in unison.

The good news is, your body naturally wants to get that thing out as much as you do. Your eye will recognize there’s a foreign object in it and secrete mucus to help push it out as you blink, Dr. Thau says. A little patience can go a long way in the meantime. The minutes it takes for the contact to make its way toward the front where you can see it may feel like hours, but it’ll happen eventually, with or without you trying.

If you’ve been flushing and tugging and inverting to no avail, and you’re starting to panic, call your eye doctor to have them talk you through it. Most optometry and ophthalmology offices have people on call for issues like this, so if you say that you’re having trouble, there’s also usually a doc who can see you on short notice, Dr. Brisette says. Your provider can carefully examine your eye under a microscope and flip your lid up to safely fish out any contact lens or piece of a lens that might be lurking therein.

It’s also a good idea to make an appointment with your eye doctor if you thought you flushed out the missing contact but are still having some lingering discomfort. That might just be from all the poking and nudging—after all, eyes are extremely sensitive. But it’s also possible that a broken-off bit is still lodged somewhere in your eye, perhaps in a spot that’s just causing less direct pain. Left there, it might act as a place for bacteria to gather, potentially upping your risk of infection, Dr. Brisette points out. So if you feel like a piece may be sticking around, it’s best to see your doctor just in case. And if you find yourself dealing with a lost contact on the reg, your provider can also help determine if a different type or size lens might be a better fit for you, or if it’s worth exploring another kind of vision correction altogether.

Related:

• 7 Dangerous Mistakes You’re Making With Your Contact Lens Case
• I’m 26 and Almost Lost My Eye After Showering in My Contacts
• Are Your Eyes Red, Stinging, and Watering Constantly? This Could Be Why

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