The nurse prepares to remove the patient's soft contact lenses. Which intervention should the nurse implement to remove the lenses without traumatizing the cornea?

Question

a. Irrigate the eye with 50 mL of a sterile saline solution.
b. Pull the lid down and instruct the patient to blink.
c. Pinch the sides of the lens together and pop it out.
d. Move the lens to the sclera and compress the lens gently.

Answer 1

D
To remove a soft contact lens from a patient's eye, the nurse moves the lens to the sclera and gently compresses it. This maneuver disrupts the surface tension holding the lens to the eye, al-lowing the nurse to lift the lens off the eye without traumatizing the cornea. The nurse avoids flooding the eye with irrigation solution because it increases the risk of losing the lens. The nurse asks the patient to blink to eject a hard lens. The nurse avoids pinching the lens since that would risk corneal trauma.