Contact lenses....

[Gibson486]

How long does it take to get the hang of putting them in. I have tried for about 1.5 hours so far. No go. Is this frustration common?

 

[Uppsala9496]

Less than 2 seconds.
I guess you have to get used to touching your eye.

 

[aceO07]

It takes some practice. Use one hand to hold your eye lids open, while using your other hand to put the contact lens in.

 

[funboy6942]

I am in the same boat. I wasted over $100 for mine and I have yet to figure out, or get my eye used to being poked and not having my eye lids not shut. And boy howdy do I get pissed off.

 

[yllus]

First time on my own it took an hour and a half. Then it took ten minutes. Then a minute. Finally about twenty seconds per eye. Don't give up, just take short breaks of a minute or two when you feel yourself getting really frustrated.

Before attempting to put the actual lens in, I practiced by peeling back my eyelid and touching the white of my eye with my (clean) finger to get used to the sensation of touching my eye. I found that really helped.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Wait until you try to take them out if you are having issues putting them in.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Took me like an hour my first couple of times. Then after a month I could do it instantly. I find it helps to fill the lens with solution before you insert it. It makes the contact touching your eye much less irritating because the solution creates a nice barrier between your eye and plastic.

 

[Wingznut]

First time on my own it took an hour and a half. Then it took ten minutes. Then a minute. Finally about twenty seconds per eye. Don't give up, just take short breaks of a minute or two when you feel yourself getting really frustrated.

Ditto. (Except, probably not even 20 seconds anymore. )

 

[Fingolfin269]

It will probably take a good week or so before you are an expert.

 

[911paramedic]

It took me a while to figure out the best way to have it perched on my finger so it would actually stay in my eye and not on the end of my finger.

 

[rcpratt]

It's going to take you awhile for the first week or two, then you'll get used to it and it will take you 5 seconds for each eye. Regular soft lenses, I assume?

I would recommend using your same-side hand to hold your eye open (index top lid, middle finger bottom lid), while using your opposite hand to put the contact in with the contact on your index finger. When you're more experienced you can just use one hand, index with the contact and middle finger to pull the bottom lid down.

Taking them out is easy even from the beginning. Pinch and pull, never understood what's so hard about that.

 

[nickbits]

It's going to take you awhile for the first week or two, then you'll get used to it and it will take you 5 seconds for each eye. Regular soft lenses, I assume?

Taking them out is easy even from the beginning. Pinch and pull, never understood what's so hard about that.

Soft lenses are easy to take out, RGP take a bit more practice.

 

[rcpratt]

Soft lenses are easy to take out, RGP take a bit more practice.

I never had much issue taking out any of my various RGPs either, maybe I'm just a contact lens remover savant. The optometrists always seemed impressed. But definitely harder to put in.

 

[meltdown75]

i had the same issue... my eyelid would close instinctively as soon as the contact got close... just keep at it and you'll become a contact lens ninja that can put them in so fast people won't even know. not that you'd need to put them in that fast, but whatever.

just be sure to shoot a little solution onto the contact while holding it in the palm of your hand. pick it up with your opposite index finger, hold your eye open and just let it suction to your eye. after that i like to lightly tap it right in the middle of the contact and then blink once to make sure it is in there stable. the type of solution i use is Solo Care Aqua. you'll get the hang of it, trust me... i was very frustrated with it as it feels quite unnatural sticking something into your eye i only wear them once a week and they don't bother me at all. even though i only put them in once a week, it's definitely like learning how to ride a bike... once you get it, you're pretty much at least somewhat decent at it.

 

[destrekor]

I figured out how to put them in within a minute when I first got contacts.
Now it takes a few seconds to get both contacts in the eyes.

Not sure where the huge struggle is - and I have dry eye syndrome and had contacts that weren't really comfortable and were the wrong fit at first (eye doctor never figured all this out at first), and yet I was able to get them in at first. Feeling comfortable or fighting my mind's "foreign body in eye, argh" would take a little while, but they were in.

My technique:
put the contact on the tip of your pointer finger.
Use middle finger of that same hand to pull down bottom eyelid.
Use a finger from the other hand to pull up the top eyelid.
Slowly position pointer finger (with contact on it) and pop it in. Blink a few times.

Something I do after taking the lens out of the case, is I give it a fresh rinse of solution.

 

[Modular]

I've had soft contacts since I was in middle school. I vaguely remember them being tough to put in the eye at first, but it really does get easier. At this point, I do it without even thinking, they just pop right in.

 

[L00PY]

In addition to what others have said, I like to just put a drop or two of solution in the lens. I also do it in front of a mirror and keep my eyes on the mirror and not the lens and finger getting closer and closer to my eyeball. It takes seconds (unless I wasn't paying attention and put in reversed and have to remove and replace them).

 

[D1gger]

I've always been able to touch my eye with the tip of my finger, so it took me about 40 seconds to put in my first contact lens.

 

[lxskllr]

It takes a very delicate touch. You don't have to mash the lens in or anything, Hold your lids open with one hand, then slowly put the lens in your eye. Once it gets to the point of touching, it'll just adhere, and you're done.

 

[SViper]

It is common if you have never worn them before. Man, a buddy of mine struggled to take out some colored contacts that were part of his Halloween costume. When his fingers got close to his eye, he would start looking away instinctively.

Me? I've been wearing contacts for 5+ years now and can pop them in and out in a few seconds without even looking in a mirror. I can do it with my eyes closed. /rimshot

 

[amdhunter]

I can do it in probably a second or two now. I really had a hard time in the beginning and infected one of my eyes nasty. For a whole 2 months my eyelid went limp...

I looked like a retard and went into a depression...lol

 

[SlitheryDee]

I don't think it ever took me longer than about 10 minutes to get my contacts in. Now it takes maybe 20 seconds to get both of them in.

My technique:

Cup contact in the groove formed by pressing index finger and thumb tips together.
Pull eyelids apart with index and thumb of opposite hand.
Touch contact to eye surface and spread index and thumb apart to stick contact to eye.

I use two fingers to keep the contact from turning inside out on my finger when it touches my eye. It works pretty much every time.

 

[MrX8503]

I think I got lucky. My first time took only 10 minutes. My suggestion is to clean your hands and try to touch your eyeball without closing your eyelids. After you're comfortable with that, try it with a lens.

 

[saratoga172]

First time took about 5 minutes. Got easier after that. Now it takes about 10 seconds. 20 if I'm tired or not paying attention.

 

[Riceninja]

takes less than 2 seconds for me.

the first month or so is a real bitch though, cuz youd apply wrong amount of force or place it wrong, ending up with the lens curled on your finger or blurry vision