Don't panic. Seriously. Your contact lens is not going to slide behind your eyeball and get lost in your brain. That’s a total myth because of a thin membrane called the conjunctiva that seals the area. But honestly, when you’re standing in front of the bathroom mirror at 11:00 PM and that piece of silicone hydrogel feels like it's superglued to your cornea, "don't panic" feels like useless advice. You’ve probably already tried poking at it three times, and now your eye is getting red.
Learning how to remove stuck contact lens safely is mostly about patience and lubrication. Most people make the mistake of getting aggressive. They pinch harder. They use fingernails. Stop doing that. If the lens is stuck, it's usually because it has dried out and suctioned itself to the surface of your eye, or it has migrated under your eyelid where it’s folded over.
Why is it actually stuck?
Before you start digging, you need to know what you’re dealing with. If the lens is centered over your iris but won't move, it’s dehydrated. Think of it like a wet piece of Saran wrap on a window; once the moisture goes, it bonds. This happens if you napped in your lenses, stared at a computer screen for eight hours without blinking, or if you’re just naturally prone to dry eyes.
Sometimes the lens isn't actually "stuck" in the suction sense—it's just lost. It might have slipped upward under the superior fornix (the space under your upper lid). This feels like a scratchy, foreign body sensation. You might think it fell out, but if you still feel that "something in my eye" grit, it's probably still in there, hiding.
How to remove stuck contact lens when it's bone dry
First thing: wash your hands. Use plain soap. Avoid those fancy moisturizing soaps with oils or heavy scents because that stuff will get on the lens and make your vision blurry, or worse, irritate your eye further. Dry your hands with a lint-free towel. If you use a fluffy bathroom towel, you’re just going to put tiny fibers in your eye, which makes everything ten times more annoying.
Now, look in the mirror. Is the lens centered? If it is, do not try to pull it off yet.
You need to rehydrate it. Use a steady stream of sterile saline solution or rewetting drops specifically made for contacts. Don't use tap water. Tap water is a gamble you don't want to take due to Acanthamoeba, a nasty parasite that loves domestic water supplies and causes keratitis.
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Flood the eye. Blink a lot.
Wait a full minute.
Usually, the moisture will break the seal. Once the lens is floating again, use your finger to gently slide it down to the white part of your eye (the sclera). It's much safer to pinch it off from the white part than directly off the cornea. The cornea is packed with nerve endings; the white part isn't. If it still won't move, add more drops. Keep blinking. It’s a waiting game.
Finding a lens that's migrated
If the lens has vanished from the center, you have to go hunting.
Look as far as you can in the opposite direction of where you think the lens is. If you feel it's under your upper lid, look down at the floor. While looking down, use your finger to gently massage the lid in a downward motion. You’re trying to coax the lens back into the field of vision.
The flip method
Sometimes you have to get a bit more manual. If massaging doesn't work, you can gently evert your eyelid. This sounds gross, but it's a standard move.
- Look down.
- Grasp your upper eyelashes.
- Place a Q-tip horizontally on the outside of the lid.
- Flip the lid up over the Q-tip.
You’ll likely see the lens folded up there like a tiny taco. Use a drop of saline to flush it out rather than grabbing it with your fingers, as the tissue under the lid is incredibly delicate.
What if it's a hard lens?
Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) lenses are a different beast. They don't "dry out" and stick the same way soft lenses do, but they can suction on. If an RGP lens is stuck on the white of your eye, do not press on it. You can actually cause a small bruise or abrasion.
The trick here is usually a tiny suction cup tool—often called a "DMV remover"—which most RGP wearers keep in their kit. If you don't have one, use the "V" technique. Place one finger on the edge of the upper lid and one on the lower lid, right at the edges of the lens. Apply gentle pressure and pull the lids apart slightly to break the suction, then use the lids to "pop" the lens out.
When to actually give up and call a doctor
There is a point where you stop being a "home hero" and start being a patient. If your eye is becoming intensely red, if your vision is blurring significantly, or if the pain is moving from "annoying" to "sharp," stop.
You might have already removed the lens and what you're feeling is a corneal abrasion. A scratch on the cornea feels exactly like a stuck contact lens. People often spend an hour digging into their eye trying to find a lens that isn't even there anymore, causing more damage in the process.
If you can't see the lens and you've flushed your eye for 15 minutes with no luck, call an optometrist. They have a slit lamp—a high-powered microscope—that can find a microscopic shard of a lens in seconds. It’s a two-minute fix for them.
Practical steps for the next hour
If you successfully got the lens out, your eye is probably going to feel "off" for a while. That's normal. The eye is sensitive.
- Skip the lenses tomorrow. Give your corneas a break and wear your glasses. Your eyes need oxygen to heal any minor irritations.
- Use preservative-free artificial tears. These are much gentler than the standard "get the red out" drops, which can actually cause rebound redness.
- Check the lens. If it's torn, that's why it got stuck. If it's whole, check it for protein deposits. Sometimes lenses get "sticky" because they weren't cleaned properly the night before.
- Hydrate. If your eyes are chronically dry enough that lenses are sticking, you might need to talk to your doctor about switching to a daily disposable lens or a material with a higher water gradient like lehfilcon A.
Basically, if it happens again, don't use your nails, don't use tweezers (yes, people actually try this), and don't panic. Just add more saline and wait for the physics of the eye to do the work for you.