How to Clean Contact Lenses Without Solution

September 15, 2022 Ofelia Braun Uncategorized 0

When run out of your contact lens solution, you need to know the ways to clean contact lenses without a solution. There remain several alternatives for contact lenses that you can use to keep the lenses safely stored.

Ways To Clean Contact Lenses Without Solution:

If you wear contact lenses for vision correction, you need to keep them thoroughly clean and free from bacteria. The steps to clean your contacts are easy and effortless.

Step 1: Wash your hands and dry them using a lint-free cloth.
Step 2: Take one lens out of your eyes and place it in a case filled with contact solution. Rub the lens gently with your fingers without letting your nails touch the lens. After rubbing, rinse the lens with a contact solution.
Step 3: Rubbing and rinsing is an effective choice for cleaning lenses. However, always use a fresh solution for storing your lenses.
Step 4: You should also clean your contact lens case with fresh solution and keep the case upside down to dry it. Once dry, place the clean lenses inside the case filled with fresh lens solution.

5 Alternatives For Contact Lens Solution:

Every night, you need to store the contact lenses in the lens case filled with contact lens solution. This practice ensures that your eyes do not catch infections or any other problems due to unclean lenses.

Even eye doctors recommend keeping the lenses dipped in the solution overnight, regardless of the contact lens type. This includes: contact lenses without a prescription, daily disposable, multifocal lenses and more. When you run out of contact lens solutions, here are a few ways you can store your lenses overnight without damaging them.

Saline Solution:

If you suddenly find that your solution bottle has no solution left in it, you can settle for saline solutions. You can find this solution in two forms. The first is as the nasal drops of children and the second one in the form of liquid with a squeeze-drop container. No matter which one you manage to get, both these solutions feature a pH balance close to your tears and thus are excellent alternatives for storing your lenses overnight.

Hydrogen Peroxide:

The next in line is Hydrogen Peroxide. When your contact solution reaches the bottom of the bottle, you can settle for Hydrogen peroxide as an alternative for storing your lenses overnight. Hydrogen Peroxide keeps the soft lenses protected against bacteria. Therefore, your eyes catch no serious infections. However, you need to use a catalytic platinum disc to neutralize Hydrogen Peroxide solution to make it appropriate for your lenses. It is one of the best temporary alternatives when you run out of contact solutions, as you can find it easily in the market.

Distilled Water:

Many people think that they can wash the lenses with tap water to keep them clean. However, this may lead to your lenses being contaminated by the virus acanthamoeba keratitis. Therefore, using tap water is never a wise choice. Instead, you can opt for distilled water. You can use distilled water for cleaning your lens for only one night. After that, you have to buy a fresh solution to keep your lenses. Therefore, abstain from using tap water and switch to distilled water when you run out of contact solution.

Eye Drops:

When your contact lens solution touches the bottom of the container, try using a refreshing eye drop to store your lenses overnight. Fill the contact lens case with the eye drop solution and leave the lenses overnight to prevent eye infection. Refreshing eye drops are easy to find in medical stores and are an excellent alternative for storing your lenses.

Home-Made Solution:

If you do not have distilled water or any other alternative within reach, use tap water for making a sterile solution. Boil the water for 15 minutes t kill all the germs. After 15 minutes, add salt to the water and stir with a clean spoon. Let the solution cool and use it as a contact solution. You can use this saline solution for storing silicone hydrogel lenses as well.

Why Do You Need To Clean Your Contacts?

Cleaning your contact lenses is essential for overall eye hygiene. When you do not wear clean lenses the risk of eye infection increases. The followings are a few symptoms that indicate serious eye problems that require immediate medical attention.

Redness Of Eyes And Itchiness
Pain In The Eyes
Blurry Vision
Teary Eyes

Don’ts For Contact Lens Users:

To keep your eyes healthy, you should never do the followings or else, your contact lens will go bad before its expiry date. Additionally, you might have to face eye problems if you do not avoid doing the following as a contact lens wearer.

Never use an expired contact lens
Never go to sleep wearing the lenses
Do not keep the lenses in your eyes when your eyes get irritated
Do not swim or take a shower wearing your lenses

Conclusion:

Proper lens care can keep the contact lenses usable until they expire. To avoid eye problems and infections, use your lenses carefully and take good care of them.