Contact Lens Solutions and Products

Proper care of you contact lenses is essential for a lifetime of healthy vision. It is often overwhelming to the patient new to contact lenses when they make a trip to the pharmacy for contact lens solution. They are greeted by aisle of choices. To decrease the likelihood of eye infections you should always follow your optometrists suggestions and ask questions when you have any concerns. Improper use of solutions on contact lenses can result in debilitating vision loss.

Reducing The Risk Of Contact Lens Eye Infections

• Always wash your hands before handling contact lenses. Take 20 seconds (sing the happy birthday song to yourself twice)
• If your eyes are red, blurry, or uncomfortable remove your contacts. Any changes that persist more than a few hours warrant a call to your eye doctor
• Don’t change solutions without consulting your optometrist
• Check for expired solutions
• Rub and rinse your contact lenses. Leaving out a manual rubbing step is no longer recommended
• Make sure you soak your contact lenses at least the minimum time required for disinfecting
• Do not add solution to existing solution in the contact lens case. Always empty the solution and let the case air dry during the day
• Contact lens solutions should never be reused
• No tap water, distilled water, pool water, lake or ocean water. Under no circumstances should you try and make your own saline solution. Acanthamoeba keratitisis is an organism found almost everywhere in non sterile water, and causes an extremely difficult infection
• Contact lenses do not belong in your mouth. The mouth carries a high load of bacteria
• Replace your contact lens case every 1-2 months
• If you need contact lens solution for air travel ask you eye care professional for a travel kit. Transferring your own solution to a smaller bottle for travel may result in contamination and an eye infection