Contact Lens Solutions: What You Need to Know

Keeping your contact lenses clean requires specific solutions designed to clean, disinfect, and moisten them, ensuring they’re safe and comfortable to wear. Selecting the right contact lens solution is key to maintaining the quality of your lenses and your eye health, and understanding the different types, their functions and how to utilize them is crucial in this process.

Different Types of Contact Lens Solutions

Contact lens solutions are more than simple cleansers—they ensure that your lenses are disinfected, safe and comfortable for your eyes. Let’s examine some of the different types.

• Multi-Purpose Solutions: Probably the most common type of lens solution, multi-purpose solutions work by cleaning, disinfecting, and lubricating your lenses. They’re user-friendly and require a simple rinse and soak process.
• Hydrogen Peroxide-Based Solutions: Used for their deep-cleaning and disinfecting abilities, hydrogen peroxide solutions are ideal, particularly if you have allergies to components in multipurpose solutions. However, these must be neutralized after cleaning before you insert the lenses into your eyes.
• Saline Solutions: These basic solutions are typically used to rinse and store contact lenses. While they are gentle and irritation-free, saline solutions aren’t designed to disinfect lenses.

Choosing the Right Contact Lens Solution

Just like picking out the right eyeglasses or contact lenses, choosing a contact lens solution should be a careful process. Along with the type of lens, your personal comfort and sensitivity to certain ingredients should also be considered. Consulting an eye care professional is recommended to help guide your choice.

Common Mistakes in Using Contact Lens Solutions

Using the right contact lens solution is crucial for healthy and comfortable lens wear, but knowing how to use it properly is equally important. Here are some common mistakes to avoid.

• Water as a Substitute: It might be tempting to use water as a quick rinse or storage solution, but water lacks the disinfecting power necessary to kill harmful microorganisms that can thrive on your lenses. These microbes can then be transferred to your eyes, causing infections and irritation.
• Ignoring Expiration Dates: Contact lens solutions have expiration dates like any other product. Using expired solutions can decrease their effectiveness in disinfecting your lenses, again increasing the risk of infection.
• Top-Up Temptation: Adding fresh solution to your old lens case solution might seem like a way to save some solution, but it’s a recipe for trouble. Old solutions harbor bacteria and debris, and diluting them with fresh solutions won’t adequately disinfect your lenses. Always discard the old solution and use a fresh solution for each cleaning.
• Mixing and Matching Solutions:  There’s a reason why your eye doctor recommends a specific solution. Different solutions have varying chemical compositions and functionalities. Mixing solutions or using them interchangeably with other brands can create unpredictable reactions and potentially damage your lenses or irritate your eyes. Stick to your doctor’s recommendation and avoid mixing unless explicitly advised.

Learn More at Vienna Eyecare Center

The right lens solution is vital for maintaining the longevity of your contact lenses and protecting your eye health. Remember to consult your optometrist when choosing the right solution and follow their advice on maintaining proper lens hygiene. 

If you have further concerns, Vienna Eyecare Center is ready to assist you. Reach us at (703) 938-7633 or through our contact page and get professional advice from our experts. We serve patients in Vienna, Reston, and McLean, VA.