help, lost a contact lens *sigh*

[janey]

I need help..or some answers at least

I've been wearing contacts off and on for the past few years, but only in the last 3 months or so I've been wearing them daily. Today morning was the first time ever I lost a contact lens while putting one in.

The really weird thing was that this morning I just put one in, everything went all nice and sharp, I wiggled my eye around and blinked a few times and everything went all blurry again. I was fairly sure it was in, and I figured it was the blinking that made it fall out, except I couldn't find it on the countertop in front of the mirror, the floor nearby, or on me...everything within ~3 feet of where I was standing. So I thought it was lost in my eye, so I rolled my eyes around and blinked a bunch and stared at it in the mirror and it turned up nothing. So I opened a new lens pack and put it on just fine. Since then and up till now, my eye has been totally bloodshot and aching a teeny bit. No amount of Systane or not using the lenses is helping.

If it's worth noting, all I use are biweekly lenses - acuvue advance for astigmatism and biomedics xc, and I only need them for one eye, because the other has better than 20/20 vision - what a headache. And I always wash my hands, and the lost lens was all of 2 days old, and the new one was brand new, and I use the bausch & lomb renu multiplus solution, and the bottle was opened a few days ago. And the case is just over two weeks old, and I obviously clean the case and airdry daily, and I use new solution to store the lens every time. fat chance of this being an infection, although you never know.

Is there any chance of it still being in my eye or something? Any tips on how to make sure it's not the case? New lenses don't give me any trouble...hell, lenses in general don't, so this is pretty out of the ordinary. But if there's any chance it's still on my eye somewhere...don't want that to happen.

 

[iBlue]

ex of mine had similar thing. it was in his eye. he laid back and I kinda grabbed his eyelid and poured saline into his eye and found the little bugger way up under there. was a bitch to get out with the blinking reflex.

try to relax and roll your eyes around. usually you can feel if something is "off".

might be a good idea to get someone else to look in there. chances are it's not in your eye but it's tough to see on your own if it is, obviously.

(isn't it only 3:30am there right now?)

 

[janey]

ex of mine had similar thing...

Well, the bloodshot-ness and pain started around the same time, so it may not even be there, but instead be something completely unrelated. but how "up" there was the lens? I know it's not possible for the lens to be completely lost behind the eye because of the membranes and stuff, but I don't know how far back is back. I'm just guessing that pulling apart my eyelids and rolling my eyes around would help spot it, but that isn't the case.

And yes, it's 3:30am But this started Sunday morning.

 

[Abstract]

Contacts scare the hell out of me. I don't know how you do it.



I think if i had to, I would always stick with glasses.

 

[iBlue]

Ah, ok.

Hmmm, I'd say it was a bit over a centimeter up his eyelid, kind of in the corner. He was really blind without his lenses though so he couldn't see it with his other eye. Your other eye is good. I suspect you'd be able to see or feel it.

Somehow things going wrong with the eyes is very unnerving.

 

[janey]

Contacts scare the hell out of me. I don't know how you do it...I think if i had to, I would always stick with glasses.

Yeah, I'm not sure how I do it either. But my glasses are perpetually lopsided because of the lens weight difference between the two eyes (plano (flat) and -3.75 i think), and without the glasses everything's all weirdly blurry without going crosseyed to read something and I get a headache because of the radical difference between the eyes.

I used to really hate wearing contacts (RGPs before, and some crappy disposable torics), but the two brands I'm using now are great. Nobody can believe I can sit in front of a computer for 12+ hours a day without dryness issues

Hmmm, I'd say it was a bit over a centimeter up his eyelid, kind of in the corner. He was really blind without his lenses though so he couldn't see it with his other eye. Your other eye is good. I suspect you'd be able to see or feel it.

Somehow things going wrong with the eyes is very unnerving.

Ack yes, I value my eyes very much, as much as I love (and would love to work on) VoiceOver for Mac OS X. I can see fine with my other eye, but I have yet to spot or feel a lens yet. I also can't go that far up there..

 

[Edandlindz28]

I had that happen to me once. It was in the lower part of my eye. I don't think it can go behind your eye, but I am no medical expert. I would think you would feel something, if it was up there. Keep trying to rinse out your eye. Maybe you had something in the contact that caused the readness. I don't miss glasses/contacts one bit. Laser eye surgery was the best thing I have ever done. Good luck.

 

[mariahlullaby]

When that happens to me, I usually forget about it and think it must have fallen out. Usually I find it the next morning, when my eye movement in my sleep brought it 'round the front again. Maybe ask your eye doc?

 

[Sdashiki]

Yeah, I'm not sure how I do it either. But my glasses are perpetually lopsided because of the lens weight difference between the two eyes (plano (flat) and -3.75 i think), and without the glasses everything's all weirdly blurry without going crosseyed to read something and I get a headache because of the radical difference between the eyes.

Have you talked to your optometrist about having different thicknesses in each lens?

Like, im out of touch here but, 1.60 for the weaker one, 1.66/1.67 for the thicker? (dont know wut the #s mean, but higher is thinner)

Whatever you need to do to make the weights equal.

Obviously thinner is more expensive. But you wouldnt have a lopsided issue. Then again, for all I know, like car tires, you have to have the same size on each eye, thats why I say you should ask a pro.


on topic:

once I had bumped my eye on someomes shoulder, I dont recall how. but my contact lens fell out. couldnt find it. popped in another one. I was usuing monthlies.

next day, i wake up with a sore eyeball. look in the mirror, open my eye wide and out pops a half folded contact lens with a little bit of eye gunk on it, like pink/white discharge.

yummy.

 

[macmama]

Ugh, gross Janey. I've had some funny things stuck in the lids of my eyes (way TMI so I'll just leave it at that), but never one of my contacts. The bi-weekly ones are often so thin and pliable that I can imagine they're easy to lose.

I'd definitely call the eye doctor on this one. If massive saline flushings haven't done anything for you, it's time to call in the big guns. Are you using a preservative-free saline, like Unisol? That'll be easiest on your eyes for repeated flushing. You might have success with putting it in an eye-cup and swishing. Good luck!

 

[janey]

I had that happen to me once...

Ah, i'm not considering laser eye surgery for a long time. I'm also fairly sure it's not behind my eye either, I don't see how that's possible with all the muscles and stuff.

When that happens to me, I usually forget about it and think it must have fallen out. Usually I find it the next morning, when my eye movement in my sleep brought it 'round the front again. Maybe ask your eye doc?

This morning nothing showed up, but all the redness and aching was gone too. It probably wasn't in my eye, but..just to be on the safe side

Have you talked to your optometrist about having different thicknesses in each lens?...Obviously thinner is more expensive. But you wouldnt have a lopsided issue. Then again, for all I know, like car tires, you have to have the same size on each eye, thats why I say you should ask a pro.

That's actually what I did
One lens is plain and flat, and the other one is a higher-index lens. Not sure of the numbers or why I didn't get a higher-than-the-current-higher-index lens because it's still pretty lopsided, but they're transitions lenses as well (the ones that get darker in sunlight) and maybe that came with restrictions on what kind of lenses I could have used.

next day, i wake up with a sore eyeball. look in the mirror, open my eye wide and out pops a half folded contact lens with a little bit of eye gunk on it, like pink/white discharge.

yummy.

eww that's nasty

Ugh, gross Janey. I've had some funny things stuck in the lids of my eyes (way TMI so I'll just leave it at that), but never one of my contacts. The bi-weekly ones are often so thin and pliable that I can imagine they're easy to lose.

I'd definitely call the eye doctor on this one...

Yeah I know, but I used to have RGPs before and they were such a pain.

Right now my eye looks like it's fine, all of the unpleasantness is gone. Either the lens actually wasn't still in there or maybe I was just poking my eyeball too much trying to find the nonexistant lens

This is handy to know though, never know when it'll happen again.

thanks all!

 

[iSaint]

Reading this I realized I've been wearing contacts for 25 years. I got them for a high school graduation gift. I remember having a lot of problems the first few weeks/months. Back then we kept them in for thirty days or more, and you didn't have spares. I have horrible vision: 20/400 or worse in both eyes. My wife is worse than that. Contacts really help people in that situation. Plus, I have a blindspot in the center of vision of my right eye, so I basically read with one eye.

I remember pulling half of a contact out several weeks after I thought I had cleaned my eyes out completely one night. I think this was five or six years ago.

Nowadays, with two week lenses, I don't hesitate to throw old lenses out if they are giving me trouble. I take mine out every night to give the eyeballs a rest.

There's always a chance of a piece still being in your eye. Get someone to help flush for you.

 

[Counterfit]

WAAAAYYY back in 8th grade (wow, 9 years ago), a classmate of mine lost his contact lens. He looked all over the school for at least half an hour. Then he found it.








It was on his cheekbone, right below his eye. So check your cheeks!

 

[janey]

...There's always a chance of a piece still being in your eye. Get someone to help flush for you.

I went through 4 or 5 lenses in a 10 day period once because I was having an unbelievable amount of trouble with them - I was in SF for WWDC and I almost ran out of spare lenses, the last one fell out at the airport an hour before boarding the flight back home. Back in LA I had no problem though, it was bizarre.

I'm not having any trouble with them right now though, although if it does get weird and bloodshot and painful again I will flush.

It was on his cheekbone, right below his eye. So check your cheeks!

Cheeks and eyelashes are usually the first places I check, that's where the lenses that fall out are usually hanging from, just not this time

 

[displaced]

I've been wearing dailies for about a month now. I had exactly what janey's described happen to me a few days ago.

I was sitting watching TV about 12am and rubbed my eye. The lens felt like it'd popped out, but I wasn't sure. Since I was going to bed soon anyway, I just shut one eye and finished watching whatever it was on TV I was engrossed in.

Before I went to bed, I had a real delve around my eye looking for the lens since I hadn't seen it on the chair, floor or myself. I managed to convince myself it was stuck in my eye. It was sore and red. Thinking back, it was probably because I was already tired and poking my eye looking for the lens didn't help!

The eye was bloodshot for a day or so, and scratchy for a couple more. But I knew straight away on the morning after the problem that it couldn't still have been in my eye. A daily lens goes rough and uncomfortable after it's been in for too long. If it had been stuck in my eye I would've felt it immediately when I'd woke up. Plus, the fact that it'd dry out would mean that it'd immediately slide forward as soon as I moved my eye.

Scary things at times, but it's extraordinarily difficult (possibly impossible) to have the the thing go right behind, since there's the eye muscles preventing that.

 

[janey]

Thinking back, it was probably because I was already tired and poking my eye looking for the lens didn't help!...A daily lens goes rough and uncomfortable after it's been in for too long. If it had been stuck in my eye I would've felt it immediately when I'd woke up. Plus, the fact that it'd dry out would mean that it'd immediately slide forward as soon as I moved my eye.

Yep, identical situation

The redness was totally gone when I woke up this morning, so I figure it was just me poking too much looking for something that wasn't there. Odd that I didn't find the lens when I lost it in the first place, but oh well.

 

[iSaint]

Another note: I was recently given some drops to put in before I put my contacts in to help with allergies and the effects they have on contacts. It seems to be helping a lot.

 

[Gymnut]

I'd suggest seeing your optometrist to rule out any serious infection. I used to be pretty careless in my use of contact lenses but there's one thing I've learned is never mess with eyesight. I recall never taking them out for weeks at a time and going to sleep with them.

 

[CaptainCanuck]

I second that. The little buggers can cause plenty of problems if they get lodged near the back of the eye and get infected, especially near the optic nerve.

There might not be a lot the optometrist can do if he can remove the lense, but you probably can get antibiotic drops to settle the infection down.