I've been fascinated with contact lenses since I was 10 years old. Initially, my parents discouraged me by saying that my eyes were still growing, and it would cost them a fortune to keep replacing them. As I got older, and started making money for myself, I found my own ways to discourage myself. First and foremost was the terror I associated with anything coming near my eyeball, let alone resting upon it. (In other words, the ending of Fire In The Sky was terrifying for many reasons.) At the suggestion of my optometrist, I'm writing this to encourage other terrified glasses-wearers to make the leap to contact lenses.
As a kid, I heard "Two for flinching" every day. If anything slightly menacing came into my field of vision, dollars to donuts, I was blinking. The point of eye drops was completely lost on me; I'd blink my eyes 10 times in a second and end up with wet eyelashes. Over the years, I've met a number of people who feel the same way. "Touch my eyeball? Are you crazy?" they say with a shudder. Well, I never would've believed it five years ago, but yes, now I touch my eyeball every day.
Don't get me wrong; there's a learning curve associated with wearing contact lenses. I know people who've given up, in fact. I started wearing contact lenses four years ago, and back then it took me, on average, a half an hour to put them in. That's quite a wrench in anyone's schedule. However, with the help of a simple technique and a few tips, I got that time down to 10 minutes within a few months. Now, I might take 20 seconds, if I'm sleepy.
What distinguishes this technique is the use of both hands: Use your middle fingers to hold back each eyelid (one arm comes over the top of your head). If you're afraid of touching your eyeball, that's the way to go, since you're securing your eyelids against the inevitable blinking to come. (You'll also find that looking away from the lens as it goes in will reduce blinking.) By using your middle fingers to hold your eyelids, you leave your thumb and forefinger free to put in or take out the lens. Tip: Gently push the lens off the centre of your eye before gently pinching it between your thumb and forefinger; it's less irritating if your pinch happens to miss.
It's pretty simple, and over time you'll notice that your eyeball will lose some of its sensitivity. Trust me; I'm a case in point: I've gone from blinking rapidly to impressing my optometrist in just four years! Now, when I get fitted for contact lenses, my optometrist simply says, "Look up," and she's putting them in and taking them out.
If you have something to say, feel free to send it to me or write it in my guestbook. You can also have a look at what other people wrote in my guestbook.
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