You’re rubbing your eye, maybe a little too hard because it’s allergy season or you’re just tired, and suddenly—pop. The lens is gone. It’s not on your finger. It’s not on the floor. You look in the mirror, and your iris is bare. Then you feel it. That scratchy, intrusive, "something is definitely back there" sensation. Having a contact lens stuck in eyelid folds is a rite of passage for almost every long-term wearer, yet it feels like a genuine medical emergency the first time it happens.
Don't freak out.
It’s physically impossible for that lens to slide behind your eyeball and get lost in your brain. There’s a membrane called the conjunctiva that folds back to cover the white of your eye and lines the inside of your eyelids. It creates a dead-end seal. The lens is trapped in a cul-de-sac, not an open highway.
Why do lenses even go rogue?
Most of the time, it’s a moisture issue. If your eyes are bone-dry, the lens loses its grip on the cornea and starts wandering. Or maybe you fell asleep in them. When you sleep, your eyes don't blink to redistribute tear film, so the lens can dehydrate, shrink slightly, and migrate north or south. It gets tucked under the upper lid or bunched up in the lower pocket. Rubbing your eyes is the other big culprit. When you apply pressure to the eyelid, you're basically squeegeeing the lens off its intended home and shoving it into the rafters.
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Finding the Lost Lens
First, stop rubbing. Honestly, that’s the hardest part. Your instinct is to grind your lid against the eyeball to "feel" where it is, but you’re just risking a corneal abrasion. You need to be methodical. Wash your hands—obsessively. Any bacteria on your fingers is going straight into that irritated pocket of tissue.
Stand in front of a well-lit mirror. Look as far down as you can while pulling your upper eyelid up. If you don't see it, look all the way up and pull your lower lid down. Usually, you’ll see a tiny sliver of a translucent edge. If it’s stuck under the upper lid, it can be really tricky to spot because the lid is surprisingly deep.
The Inversion Trick
If it’s truly buried under the top lid, you might have to do what eye doctors do: evert the eyelid. You take a Q-tip, place it horizontally on the middle of your upper lid, and gently fold the lid back over the swab. It feels weird. It looks gross in the mirror. But it exposes the entire "hidden" area where lenses like to hide.
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Dr. Glaucomflecken (the famous ophthalmologist persona of Dr. Will Flanary) often jokes about the "fornix"—the deep pocket where things go to hide. He’s not kidding; that space is surprisingly roomy. If you still can’t see it, it might have folded in half. A folded lens feels like a boulder but looks like a tiny piece of lint.
Getting the Contact Lens Stuck in Eyelid Out
Hydration is your best friend here. If the lens is stuck, it’s likely because it’s parched and "suctioned" onto the conjunctiva. Do not try to pinch it off with dry fingers. You’ll just tear your eye tissue.
- Flood the eye with sterile saline or rewetting drops. Not tap water. Never tap water—Acanthamoeba keratitis is a rare but vision-destroying parasite found in tap water that loves to live on contact lenses.
- Close your eye and gently massage the lid in a circular motion. You’re trying to move the lens back toward the center of the eye.
- Blink rapidly. Like, a lot. Blinking is the eye’s natural elevator system.
- Once you see the edge move into the white part of your eye (the sclera), use a clean finger to gently slide it down toward your iris. From there, you can remove it normally.
Sometimes, the lens has actually fallen out and you just think it's still there. This is a "foreign body sensation." Because the lens was stuck or because you rubbed your eye too hard, you might have a tiny scratch on the cornea. Your brain interprets that scratch as "something is in my eye," even if the lens is currently sitting on your bathroom rug.
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When to actually worry
If your eye is becoming beet-red, if your vision is blurry even after you think you got the lens out, or if the pain is sharp rather than just annoying, go to an urgent care or your optometrist. They have a slit lamp—a high-powered microscope—that can find a microscopic shard of a lens in seconds. They can also drop some fluorescein dye in your eye. Under a blue light, this dye glows bright green and sticks to any damaged tissue or hidden lens fragments.
I’ve seen cases in medical journals, like the one reported in the British Medical Journal in 2017, where a woman had 27 contact lenses stuck in her eye over the course of decades. She just thought she was losing them and kept putting in new ones. Her "dry eye" and "irritation" were actually a literal mass of blue-tinged plastic. Don't be that person. If you can't find it and the feeling persists for more than a few hours, get a professional look.
Moving Forward Without the Scratches
Preventing this isn't just about not rubbing your eyes. It’s about fit. If your lenses are constantly sliding, the base curve might be too flat for your eye’s shape. Your optometrist can adjust the "tightness" of the fit so it grips the cornea better.
Also, consider the material. Older hydrogel lenses dry out faster than newer silicone hydrogels. If you have chronic dry eye, the lens is going to behave like a piece of parchment paper the moment you get dehydrated. Switching to daily disposables can also help, as they are thinner and you’re less likely to have buildup that makes the lens "tackier" and prone to sticking to the lid.
Immediate Action Steps
- Don't panic. It is physically trapped in the front of your eye; it cannot reach your brain or go behind the eye socket.
- Lubricate immediately. Use half a bottle of preservative-free saline if you have to.
- Check the floor. Use a flashlight; the lens will glint in the light. You might be torturing your eye for a lens that isn't even there.
- Flip the lid. Use the Q-tip method if you're comfortable, or have a friend look for you.
- Rest the eye. Once it's out, do not put a new lens in for at least 24 hours. Your cornea needs to breathe and heal from the irritation.
- See a pro. If the redness doesn't fade within two hours of removal, you might have a corneal abrasion that needs antibiotic drops to prevent infection.