#920 Getting the eyelash out of your eye

Neil Pasricha

Home freeEyeballs do not want to be touched.

I mean, have you ever put fingers, algae-filled lake water, or shampoo in there? Yeah, that gets your eyes screaming in pain pretty quick, doesn’t it? Unless you’re using Johnson & Johnson’s No More Tears shampoo of course, in which case feel free to lather your eyeballs right on up, no worries.

But seriously, your eyes have their own plumbing system so they’re pretty self-sufficient. Technically they’re called tear ducts but they may as well be called Eye Toilets because they just flush your eye out. Nope, no need for any assistance folks, because your Eye Toilets have it all under control. Dust, dirt, tiny little microscopic bugs — flush, flush, flush away.

Yes, your Eye Toilets are really quite good at their job …

… unless, of course, a rogue eyelash gets in there! Yes, when a rebel lash quietly unhinges itself from the confines of your eyelid and attempts a poorly planned escape to freedom it’s not good. If you’re like me and are cursed with poorly-attached eyelashes, then your lashes just give up and die all the time, flipping down into your eyeball and annoyingly scratching and clawing you right in the cornea. The Eye Toilets start madly flushing, but to no avail — that lash is just sticking in there tight and it ain’t budging.

Now, I don’t care how many barfights you’ve been in or how many times you’ve been shot, you know as well as I do that when there’s an eyelash in your eye it’s incredibly painful, it’s incredibly annoying, and it requires a ton of focus to get through. You might even have to try one of these eyelash-removing methods:

  • The Pinch and Squeeze Method. This is where you close your eye real tight, and then pinch ‘n’ squeeze all your eyelashes outwards, hoping to grab onto a tiny piece of the rogue lash and pull it out, too. I recommend doing this one first to see what happens. You miss here, you still got plenty of options.
  • The Get Someone Else To Blow Into Your Eye Method. If you’re the blowing friend, you can either do a Surprise Blow to prevent the blowee from defensively closing their eye just before you do the deed, or you can do the real surgical technique, where you get them to lie down, hold their eye open, and line up your blow exactly at the eyelash. That last one takes trust and a very dry, stiff blow. Think mighty birthday candle blowout not warming up your hands at the bus stop in winter.
  • The Hard Winker Method. A solo sport, this is where you just keep winking your eye really, really hard and hope the lash will eventually ‘pop out.’ Not a bad technique, though sometimes the act of hard winking just forces that eyelash in there deeper. Bit of a double-edged sword.
  • The Eyelid Flapper. My friend Scott taught me this method when we were little kids. You just pinch the skin of your eyelid with your fingers and keep popping it in and out real fast until the lash gives up and lets go. This method is a little bit gross to look at and comes complete with a marvelously wet and disgusting suction sound.
  • The Wash. If nothing else works, I guess you can always just splash some water in there. Or, if possible, use one of those dusty eyewash stations hanging out in the back of the woodshop. I’ve always wanted to see someone use one of those things. They look like they’re from a 1950s version of the future.

Anyway, whatever your strategy, one thing is certain: You aren’t doing anything until that eyelash comes out. You might get the job done in five seconds, you might work at it for ten painful minutes, but whatever the case, whatever your style, it sure does feel good when that eyelash finally does get out of your eye. Suddenly the sun rises again, the weight is lifted, and your life can get back on the road and just keep on trucking.

AWESOME!

If all else fails, use the machine

Photos from: here, here, and here

233 thoughts to “#920 Getting the eyelash out of your eye”

    1. The best thing to do is… take a nap. Earlier around 2 a.m. in my sleep, something was in my eye (eyelash). I tried to get it out by tearing up my eye hoping it would come out. It didn’t, but I was already very very sleepy so I just witheld the pain and tried to fall back asleep hoping my eye wouldn’t be hurting when I woke up.
      Of course, when I woke up, the eyelash is gone and my eye is no longer hurting. Try this if your able to go to sleep easily. :p

      1. does that really work? i have an eyelash stuck and i can’t get it out!!!!! better see if it comes out tonight!!!!!!

          1. It works for me, and this is why. It happens during our REM sleep, (Rapid Eye Movement). During this process, our eyes are vigorously moving under our shut eye lids. This, is capable of either moving that eye lash into a socket of the eye where your not going to feel it, or place it back into the set of eye lashes you have, and when you wake up, it’ll fall out.

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            2. get it out with your finger (DONT PUT YOUR NAIL IN YOUR EYE IT WILL SCRATCH IT!!!!!!!!) just touch it and it will stick in your finger cause its sticky from all the water from your eye! :D and tadaaaaaa its out yea shakalaka boom boom!!!!

      2. But what if u can’t go to sleep,what I’d do is get some kitchin roll NOT TOILET ROLL because it will break up in your eye and cause u even more pain and try and get it out with that but WARNING CAN BE PAINFULL AND IT MIGHT BREAKE UP (strangely I think I’ve got an eye lash in my eye now……..but i’m not going 2 stick a pece of kitchin roll in my eye I’m 2 tired

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      4. I did that last night. I had an eyelash driving me nuts and I eventually was able to go to sleep and this morning it was half out so I gently wiped at it with my finger. All was well after that. I was trying to rinse it out and make myself cry in an effort to wash it out but that didn’t work. Thank goodness REM sleep did!

      1. I’ll wager no one in your house wears contacts, or there’d be some saline solution / re-wetting drops on hand. Lifting your eyelid a bit and pouring in a little of the purified liquid will loosen the lash and it will swim right out.

    4. nah man you open up your eyaball and touch the eyelash with your finger and it usually comes out with the finger

      1. Mine is stuck at the left corner of my right eye. Nothing worked. I even used my finger, an Q-tip, water, tear drops.. blinking .. I can still see it there annoying the eye and I cant remove it no matter what. Should I forget about it and sleep the night over visit an eye doctor tomorrow or will it be absorved by the eye itself ? is it dangerous to ignore it and wait for it to disappear by itself?

        1. just um like… oh! keep moving your eye skin near your eye ball up left right down corners and if you see it touch it with your finger and it will get out

    5. Oh my god thank you so much because i had an eyelash stuck SO far in the back of my eye i tought it would go past my eye, so i kept trying got annoyed and failed read this and got it out. Then i played that 10 min Final Fantasy Victory Theme resting my eyes in VICTORY, THANKS So Much!! Sorry if i typed this oddly im just So Mad at my eyelashes for doing such a thing to me.

    6. My grandma taught me this and it works almost every time, no pain: Pull your top lid out and down over your bottom lid and hold it there for 30 seconds, while moving your eyeball around (look around, up, down, left, right, etc.). Then slowly release the lid and allow it to go back in place. If it doesn’t work the first time, it’s never failed to work the second time. Not sure where the lash goes, but I’m guessing up and behind the eye where it doesn’t hurt and eventually disolves.

      1. oh my lord. i love your grandma. that was like a 30 minute struggle, i even thought about ending it all.

      2. Not a good idea at all. I tried that and wound up with 2 more eyelashes in my eye.
        Thanks!!!!

        Just get out the saline solution, pull down on your lower lid and give the eye a good rinse job.

        Close your eye and slightly tug on both top and bottom eyelashes together until you do them all. You would be surprised at how loose ones many you get that won’t wind up in your eye.

      3. yeah your grandma is awesome although now i am rather concerned about where the eyelash is though

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  2. My mom has this ancient eyewash thing that basically looks like a tiny glass birdbath, only instead of a birdbath, it’s an eye-shaped cup on top of the stem. You just put some warm water in there, position the eyebath tightly around the eye socket and then flip your head back like you’re doing a tequila shot. If you have a good seal around your eye, you can blink a few times while your head is flung back.

    1. We had it growing up, too! It was called Collyrium, and the eye wash came in a bottle. You put some into that “ancient” thing and continue as you said. However, I do caution against using “warm water.” Tap water is simply too impure and may cause more irritation. “Eyether” (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun) use store bought saline or a store bought eye wash. Every pharmacy carries both. The eyewash may be more comforting and soothing that plain saline solution. Neither is very expensive. The Bauch and Lomb products are most trusted.

  3. Such relife IS awesome

    If you poke the eyelash with your finger it will useually stick to the finger(if you dont blink halfway through that is)

    1. Actually, if you’re not squeamish about touching your eye this always works for me. Wash and rinse your hands thoroughly, shake off the water and allow them to air dry. Drying with a towel or a paper towel can deposit lint on your fingers which might end up in your eye.
      An eyelash is curved and so is the eyebal — ((. The object is to make the curve of the eyelash opposite the curve of the eyeball — )(. Put the tip of your index finger as close the the center of the curve of the eyelash as you can and rotate the eyelash as if you were trying to turn it over. When you do this the eyelash will now match the curve of and cling onto your index finger and come out.

      1. I’ve found this is the best method also.

        If possible, moisten the Q-tip using eye drops instead of water, since the eye drops are sterile, and contain a mild disinfectant(if they’re not single-use ampules), reducing the risk of infection. Also some kinds like artificial tears have lubricants, which further protect the eye.

        1. I had a piece of lint up under my eyelid and tried to get it out to no avail; then I found your suggestion Dan. OMG thank you very much. What a relief!

    3. you rock!!!!!! i tried that, and it came right out!!!!!!! Thanks SO much. don’t you just hate that pain??? can drive a person crazy!!!!!!

      1. YES, brilliant, you shouldn’t hurt the conjuctiva then! Which is exactly what my husband just did, resulting in terrible pain and though very worth it, very expensive pharmeceuticals. Thanks for the “insight;)”

  7. if you can’t see the eyelash, you can soak a cotton ball in lukewarm tea and then wash your eyeball out by squeezing it in the corner of your eye closest to your nose.

  8. I always just poke the eyelash with my finger. It’ll stick to my finger more often than not, and I’m already used to fingers coming at my eyes because of my contacts.

        1. Ive only been able to use this method after getting contacts and its definately the easiest and fastest way, such a relief when it comes out

          1. Well Im used to getting at my eye with my finger because of rogue eyelashes and now my mom has a eyelash stuck in her eye -.- ‘….. dear god

  9. another tip to receive this awesome relief…

    force a yawn or two to make your eyes tear up (if they’re not already flowing profusely),

    tilt your head forward and turned to one side…

    use gravity to pull the object to the corner of your eye and dab it out with your fingertip…

    unobtrusive and works.

    AWESOME!

  10. I use the corner of a dry tissue to pick up the eyelash. The tissue dries off the lash and the area around it, allowing it to un-stick from the eyeball. Discovered this method when I once got an entire long strand of hair (!) stuck. That was hell to have wrapped about inside my eye.

    1. That happened once to my big brother. He asked me to look at his eye cause it was hurting and I ended up pulling (and pulling and pulling and pulling) out this really long hair. The scary thing was that he and I and most people we knew all had short hair so we had no idea where it came from!

    2. OUCH! I have as stray eye lash at the moment and it seems to be welded to my eye, my poor eye is all sore and blood shot I have had to take pain kiilers as it is hurting so much i am hoping that a good nights sleep will help.

    3. I agree. I just bend a piece of toilet paper and use it to gently scrape the surface of my eye parallel to the eyelash. However, once the lash gets above the eye, then it becomes a bit more complicated.

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  15. Just wanted to know what could be done for a buddy of mine who has a severe eyelid problem in his right eyelid.It flips into his eye.It is very bothersome and painful.Do you think it would be okay to just pluck all of his eye lashes from his bottom eyelash,being that its the one that flips into his eye?Any kind of advise, would be helpful for him.
    Thank you so much ,and God Bless.

    2. He needs to go see an Ophthalmologist to get his eye lid corrected. There are special surgeries that can correct this problem.

  16. Or even better is when you get it BEFORE it goes in, but right when it’s dangling on the edge of your lid precariously, as if to taunt you: “Oh! Oh..I’m almost in! Can you catch me? Look- oops! A mm. more and I’m there” and then WHAM! You grab it before it can complete its violation.

    I just got an eyelash out of my eye that was in there for TWO DAYS. Oh how I wish I could have stopped it before it began its reign of terror….

    1. i have an eyelash that has gone into my eyelid and to far to do much about, my school nurse said to see a physician but i am not doing that, its jabbong into my eye currently, nothing is working how did u get urs out?

  17. thankyou sooooo much i used the grabbed your lids then pull them out then in it work all most instantley after hours of other methods

  18. I would usually try blinking to get the eyelash reveal themselves and then push the eyelid (from the outside) to an edge (I prefer the one closest to your nose) so that it’ll be easier for me to pull it out. Speaking of that, I just got out 5 eyelashes out of my system (3 of them were clumped together and 2 of them were hanging like there’s no tomorrow). I’m still trying to get this last eyelash out x.x;;

  19. you know, blowing in the eye can cause viral and bacterial conjunctivitis, which is wayyy more painful and long lasting than a simple eyelash.

    Don’t have someone blow in your eye. that’s bad.
    D:

  20. I have had this one eyelash stuck in my right eye for a couple of days now and hurt when I close my eyes to sleep. I can’t seem to get it out but I know it’s in there….Will this do anything to my eye and will it ever come out?

  22. I just rub my eyes towards the edge where the ‘sleepy seeds’ come out. Then pull it out. This happens to me about three or two times a week.

  23. I swear that eyewash station picture was taken in my old high school. I understand that they all look the same..but man that just took me back to sophomore year. I have also wanted to see someone use the shower, that’d be extremely fun to watch.

  24. I loved this article more than you can imagine. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s two-thirty in the morning but your sense of humor cuts me to my ripe, ticklish core that forces me to laugh even though I risk waking up family members. Thank you.

  25. I always just close whichever victimized eye that’s suffering and keep rubbing with my finger in the direction of my nose. Eventually the eyelash will move all the way to that little crease where the tears are pouring and it comes right out

  26. NON OF THESE IDEAS ARE WORKING FOR ME AND MY EYE IS GETTING MORE AND MORE RED AND ITS BURNING AND VERY WATERY.

    2. NON OF THESE WORK BECAUSE MY EYE IS HURTING MUCH MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  27. I wear contact lenses, so I’m really used to touching my eyeballs a lot and retrieving foreign objects out of my eye.

    I usually just lightly touch the eyelash, and it sticks to my finger almost always. And if it happens to get stuck underneath my upper lid, I pull my eyelid outward and taut (grab by the lashes), blink rapidly, and it always seems to either fall out or migrate to the bottom of my eye. Then I do the finger thing.

  29. My eyelash has reached a new level of derp. It fell out when I was putting in my contacts and it stayed in me eye…and now part of it has penetrated my upper eyelid.

    I spend 15 minutes digging it out with no avail.

  31. I THINK U SHOULD GET A Q -TIP AND PUT IT IN YOUR EYE WERE THE LASH IS AND RUB IT OUT AND IT FINNALY WORKS FOR ME

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  36. Usually, I just wet my finger, locate the eyelash, stick my finger on my eyeball (where the eyelash is) and it comes out because of the wetness on my first try… it’s kinda like putting on your contacts. some may argue you can get bacteria in your eye, but obviously you wouldn’t be putting a finger full of mucus near your eyeball. if you are extremely sensitive to close objects near your eye, then this is probably not recommended for you. hahaha.

  37. I dont know what to do, I get eyelashes in my eye a lot and usually in the past I have been able to remove them by making them stick to my finger. Now it looks like I have one in the dreaded under the eyelid, as the article says it is extremely painful if it catches the wrong part of the eye. For me when it happens I am scared to close my eye (if open) and if it triggers the pain my eye slams shut pressing it down making it even worse, I have to ride it out whilst the eye fills with fluid which eventually relieves it. Yesterday after the fluid relief I went to sleep and woke up today hoping its a while before it kicks off again but I feel it now close to a critical part of my eye causing discomfort. It seems to be in the top right of my left eye and also feels like something is at the bottom right as well. The problem is I know if I close my eye with any pressure it will kick off and probably will kickoff if I try to grab my eyelid. I am considering calling an ambulance (is 2am) and asking them to knock me out at the hospital and then whilst I am asleep to try and remove it. Do doctors do that sort of thing, because trying to do it whilst someone is awake sounds very disturbing.

  38. yeah but it sucks when your hands are a little dirty and then they sting afterwards, not too fun :(

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  41. I get it a lot too. What I do is I blink a couple of times until it’s resting on the bottom eyelid. I use a piece of cotton bud/swab and try to let the moist stray eyelash stick on. Otherwise I gently roll the cotton bud/swab.

    If you have a two-sided mirror, use the magnifying one.

  42. hAHahha oh man those first solutions were just brutal to even read. i ended up leaving the computer laughing at them before i finished. turned out the last one worked. you should really make it the first one.

  43. HELPPP i got an eyelash in my eye and i cant get it out!!!!!!!!!!! Im to scared to poke it with my finger!

  45. that happens to me everyday.
    i experience around 1~3 everyday, anytime during the day.
    in my case, it doesn’t hurt, but it’s just seriously annoying. i get bit paranoid sometimes when i feel like there is still an eyelash floating on the surface when actually it isn’t. i found this page, cuz i just have got one out from my eye, and was searching online if it ‘s only me doing this, but lucky to hear that you are doing the same job. cheers!

  46. It always happens to me. Wash your fingers first. Blink hard while your finger is gently pressing the bottom eyelid. This is to make the eyelash fall onto the edge of the bottom eyelid. You have to try a few times. If it falls out, you can remove it with your finger/Qtip. If it doesn’t fall out, I will blink and blink until it goes to the corner of the eye. Then use a wet qtip and remove it. If you don’t like anything to touch your eye, you can use an eyedrop to wash it away.

  47. this rogue lash is soooooooooooooooooo annoying, cant put it out ……………. GET OUT ROGUE LASH!!!!!!!

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  50. I’m one of the brave souls that will shove my finger right into my eye and get the lash to stick to my finger to extract it. I used to wear contacts, so it doesn’t bother me much. Just poke that eye. Quick and much less pain.

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