A contact lens that seems to disappear in your eye hasn’t actually gone behind it. The conjunctiva, a thin membrane lining the inside of your eyelids and covering the white of your eye, forms a continuous barrier that makes it physically impossible for a lens to slip behind the eyeball. What’s actually happened is the lens has shifted off-center, usually sliding up under your upper eyelid or tucking into the fold where the membrane meets the lid. It’s still in there, and in most cases you can get it out yourself.
Why the Lens Can’t Go Behind Your Eye
The conjunctiva has three connected parts: one lining the inside of your eyelids, one covering the white of your eye, and a fold called the fornix that joins those two together. That fornix creates a dead-end pocket. A contact lens can slide into this pocket and feel like it’s vanished, but it has nowhere else to go. Knowing this can help you stay calm, which matters because panicking and rubbing aggressively is the fastest way to scratch your cornea.
Before You Start: Wash Your Hands
Wash your hands with soap and water and dry them with a lint-free towel. This isn’t optional. Touching your eye with dirty or linty fingers introduces bacteria and debris that can cause infection or scratch the surface of your eye. Skip paper towels or fluffy hand towels, as the fibers stick to wet fingers and end up in your eye.
How to Find the Lens
Stand in front of a well-lit mirror and look straight ahead. If you can’t see the lens on the white of your eye, close your eye and gently feel through your upper eyelid with a fingertip. A soft lens will feel like a slight ridge or bump. Once you’ve located it, you can try to coax it back into view.
Look in the opposite direction from where the lens is stuck. If it’s under your upper lid, look down. If it’s in the outer corner, look toward your nose. Then, using your fingertips on your closed eyelid, gently push the lens back toward the center of your eye. Many lenses will slide right back into position with this technique.
Removing a Soft Lens That Won’t Move
A soft contact lens often gets stuck because it’s dried out. Apply a few drops of sterile saline solution or contact lens rewetting drops directly onto your eye, then wait a few minutes for the moisture to work under the edges of the lens. Do not use tap water. Tap water isn’t sterile and can introduce microorganisms that cause serious eye infections.
After the drops have had time to rehydrate the lens, try again. Blink several times to encourage the lens to shift. If you can see it, look away from the lens and use a clean fingertip to gently slide it toward the center of your eye, then pinch it off as you normally would.
If the lens is hiding under your upper eyelid and won’t come down, you can try flipping your lid. Look down, then grasp your upper eyelashes gently and fold the lid upward over a cotton swab or your finger. This exposes the inner surface where the lens is often sitting. You can also massage through the closed lid, pressing gently downward toward the cornea to nudge the lens back into place.
If the lens still won’t budge after applying drops and waiting a few minutes, stop. Continued poking and pulling increases the risk of scratching your eye. At this point, contact your eye doctor.
Removing a Hard (RGP) Lens
Rigid gas-permeable lenses behave differently from soft lenses. They hold their shape, so they don’t suction onto the eye the same way, but they can still slip off-center.
To re-center the lens, use the same principle: look away from wherever the lens is sitting, then use your fingertips on a closed lid to guide it back over your pupil. Once it’s centered, you can remove it with the two-finger method. Hold your upper lid toward your brow with one hand so your lashes don’t interfere. With your other hand, pull your lower lid down. Then push both lids together from the outer corner of your eye toward your nose. This squeezes the lens out.
If you have a DMV suction tool (a small plunger designed for rigid lenses), place it on the lower third of the lens, never the center. When you feel it grip, pull straight out in one smooth motion, then squeeze the handle to release the lens. These tools are inexpensive and worth keeping in your lens case if you wear rigid contacts.
What Not to Do
- Don’t use tap water or homemade saline. Only sterile, commercially prepared saline or rewetting drops are safe for your eyes.
- Don’t use tweezers, sharp objects, or long fingernails. These can tear the lens and scratch your cornea.
- Don’t rub your eye hard. Gentle pressure through a closed lid is fine. Aggressive rubbing can push the lens deeper into the fornix or cause abrasion.
- Don’t keep wearing the lens after retrieving it. If a soft lens dried out or folded, discard it and use a fresh one.
Signs You May Have Scratched Your Eye
A corneal abrasion can happen if the lens edge scraped your eye while it was displaced or during your removal attempts. Symptoms include sharp eye pain, a persistent feeling that something is still in your eye (even after the lens is out), watery or red eyes, blurred vision, sensitivity to light, and swollen eyelids.
Minor scratches typically heal on their own within a day or two. If your eye isn’t feeling better after 24 hours, contact your optometrist or ophthalmologist. Seek urgent care or an emergency room if you’re in extreme pain, notice a sudden decrease in vision, or see fluid leaking from your eye. Untreated corneal infections can lead to scarring that permanently affects your sight.
When to Call a Professional
If you’ve tried rewetting drops, waited a few minutes, and still can’t locate or remove the lens, call a local optometrist. Many optometry offices can handle walk-in visits for stuck lenses, especially those that see patients for medical eye exams rather than just routine vision checks. This is generally faster and cheaper than an urgent care center or emergency room, which are better reserved for situations involving significant pain, vision changes, or signs of infection.
An optometrist has a slit lamp (a specialized microscope) that lets them see exactly where the lens is sitting, along with tools to lift it out safely in seconds. If there’s any concern about a scratch or infection, they can examine and treat it on the spot.