#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. Pingback: 1000 Awesome Things - Evan's Blog

  3. There’s an eyelash in my eye and it won’t come out, I can’t even see it, it went all the way up under my eyelid and back where it’s dark. My tear duct is just a little irritated and my eye isn’t watering or anything. I’m a very paranoid person though and I have a fear that it might go all the way back behind my eye and somehow make me blind… I have no idea what to do…Someone told me that it will just come out on it’s own.

    1. if sure it’s an eye lash it should be fine to rinse out naturally. If not go to doctor, they’ll check and be sure to get whatever it is out safely. not good to mess with the eyes alone.

  4. Lmao I just tried the Hard Winker method for some dry mascara flakes that fell in my left eye, amazingly right after I did my vision blurred a bit so I went to check it out, and all the mascara bits just floated into the inner corner of my eye so I just took em out easy :P yay!

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  8. My eye had been bugging me for almost a week, a very stubborn eyelash would just NOT come out! So, I told a friend about the annoyance, and she told me one the best/easiest solutions. Put a warm teabag on your eye. Really, I don’t know how it works or what it does, but if you leave it on your eye – occasionally pressing the teabag on your eye – for about 10 minutes, it works! (:

  9. Hey Buddy, it’s good to see a site grasping the psychic nettle and tackling a rnge of subjects. Like your mediums especially…..great luck for the site’s future!

  10. i was having this eyelash in my eye & it was so painful. and while trying to pull it out by rubbing i get my eyelid achy and i was starting to have a headache too. But while reading these comments i was yawning again &again & again that i started to cry & cry &cry.And i finally get the eyelash out of my eye. So thank you everyone for all ur comments. And check this one might work out too.

  11. I’m on a drug called Avodart and it has caused my eyelashes to grow and therefore they get into my eye FREQUENTLY. I’ve been using my finger, but the Q-tip thing sounds like a good idea. Thanks!

  12. I just can’t understand the Q-tip thing. Doesn’t that leave fuzz in your eye?? I don’t wanna go from an eyelash to white fuzz (which is hard to see in the eye). This thing has been in my eye for 4 days. Up under the lid of my right eye. Everytime I look to the right and close my eye, I feel it scratching against my pupil. It is annoying the hell out of me. I’m certain this has happened before and I’m certain its worked its way out on its own but damn…. the wait is killing me. I just want it out! And none of these suggestions worked. NONE! ((crying))

  14. I got the eyelash to stick to the inside of my eyelid (by pressing the lid against it). Then I just pulled down slightly to expose the inside and the eyelash stuck out enough for me to just pull it off.

  16. this is the absolute worse. been awake since past am. stayed up for 4 hours and plucked out all my eyelashes with a tweezer

    i had long beautiful eyelashes. my eye is swollen. i hope it grows back and doesn’t bend but that pain was unbearable

    i thank God it has stopped

  19. O.k. i had a eyelash stuck in my eye, and i was reading all the suggestions but none of them worked, so i just rubbed on my eye pretty hard, but not like painfully hard! And i finely came OUT! Praise the Lord!! It was killing me!

  20. 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 eyeball — ((. 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 about half way. When you do this the eyelash will now match the curve of your index finger and cling onto it and come out.

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  23. Please help me! My eyelash is right at the edge of my eye and every time I blink, it hurts. Please reply to this comment. :(

  24. I just tough my eye and get it out – I pretty much do this daily since there are always get those white things in my eye and they annoy me – and I probably get those white things because I touch my eyes everyday haha its a never ending cycle!

  29. If you’re like me and this happened because of contacts, try putting in a contact lens and taking it out. The eyelash just might follow :)

  30. You are a wonderful writer and i hope you solve some more of my medical mysteries! I took out my eyelash and it’s still irritated… What should I do?

  31. I have an eyelash thats stuck under my upper eye lid all they way up over wheer your tears come out as far back as it can go its really hard to see it.When i pull my eye lid I cant see it as well but nothing works at all to remove it.

    1. Not long ago this happened to me with a piece of insulation and dry wall. I went to an eye dr. who flipped the eye lid inside out, lifted up and flushed with eye solution. When something is caught this high up, by rights it will come out. Sometimes it takes a few tries but it does work! Then due to irritation, continue to cleanse for a few days:)

  32. Please help. I’ve got an eye lash in my eye and it’s been hurting me for four days. I can’t get it out! What can I do to get rid of it beside pulling it out? Because it’s right in the corner of my eye and I don’t want to risk hurting my eye. I’m also sort of a wimp. Please let me know what to do. I’ve tried all the methods I can think of!

  33. i think i have a eyelash in my eye it hurts and burns its been bothering me since 4 days ago to day i look in my left eye in the left upper corner and i see a black line i think its a eye lash i tried everything ya said and it dont help its still stuck i dont know how long it is but it wont come out plz help me

  34. SOLUTION:
    1) get a deep dish/dinner plate and put it on the table
    2) pour in some mineral water
    3) dip your head in, opening your eye in the water for 30 seconds or so.
    4) remove your head, and retrieve the rogue eyelash from the dish.

    brought to you by Cater of Tokyo.

  38. Having an eyelash in my eyes is very annoying. It gets very difficult to pay attention to things around me, because I begin to scracht my eyes and everything seems like a blur. When this kind of situation happens, i usually try to rise my eyes with some eyewash. In most of the times the eyelash that is bothering me gets out and i finally can have peace again. For women, another way to reduce this problem is trying to use less mascara when possible because it might weaken the eyelash.

  39. omg ! thank you so much. this helped a lot. ad soon as i read this. i tried it & it worked !

  40. Thank you for the previous comments! It helped me a lot :)
    I wish I had a girlfriend who would suck it out for me :)) LOL! just kidding :))

  41. Thank you for the previous comments! It helped me a lot :)

    Now for my suggestion.. Call your special someone and ask them to suck it out for yaa :)) LOL! just kidding :))

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  43. The second I read the part when he said that the eyelash would soon come out, it did for me! Phew. It thought it was going to stay there forever!

  44. The “Eyelid flapper” saved my day! Now I can finally go to sleep again. It took me half an hour to get it out…

  46. A combination of sticking my eye in a glass of water and fast blinking at the same time worked for me. It was a stubborn little bugger. FINALLY can get on with my day!

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