Contact Lens Solutions

I have been wearing Contact Lenses for years without a problem.Vanity has made me a loyal customer of these vision enhancers. I love them and wear them everyday. Things changed early this summer when my eyes became irritated, red, itchy and even weepy. I was miserable and even removed my contacts for awhile. Yes, I wore the dreaded glasses! If you are experiencing similar symptoms, you may have allergy symptoms!

My first thought was that I had the beginning of a pink eye infection. No over the counter drops seemed to help. I grew weary of my symptoms and finally went to my eye doctor. They did tests to see if my vision was affected. He looked in my eyes with that awful light, even turned my eyelids inside out to see if there was a hidden reason for my eye irritation. The results? It appeared that I had become allergic to my contact cleaning solution! My Opti Free had turned against me! What? I had never heard of such a thing!

According to the Doctor, many people become allergic to their cleaning solutions for no apparent reason. I was given new instructions for my contact lens care. Opti Free is no longer an option for me. Clear Care is my new method of daily care. It acts like hydrogen peroxide as it cleans. I place each lens into a side of the holder, fill the plastic container two thirds full, and leave it for at least six hours. Why six hours? Because the solution is so much like hydrogen peroxide, it bubbles for awhile. It needs to remove the proteins from the lens and neutralize before the lens can be reinserted into the eye. New contact lens are removed from their packets the night before wearing and are cleansed with Clear Care before wearing. The solution in the new lens packets can also cause an allergic reaction.

I used to clean my plastic lens case every few weeks and reuse it. Each bottle of Clear Care comes with a new plastic container. I was advised to change containers with each new bottle.

I continue to use occasional allergy drops in the morning before I wear my contact lens or before I go to sleep at night. The mold allergens are heavy in central Texas this year. Though I am not usually allergic to mold, it does seem to be affecting me this summer.

If you are a contact wearer and are experiencing any eye allergy symptoms, you might try changing your lens cleaning solution. In addition to having relief from my previous symptoms, it seems the new solution is helping to extend my lens life. I am wearing them several days longer that when I used Opti Free. I also recommend a trip to see your eye doctor for regular eye exams and care!