Top tip John, I like the wet paper towel idea as well.
I find it very useful to wash the eye
immediately with running water whenever I feel anything go into it; if I wait until later – even 5 minutes – it always sticks and needs a visit to the quack.
For those caught short without a magnet, try a wet cotton-bud dragged across the wet eye, it often snags surface objects in the fibres,
Cheers Charlie