Contact Lens City

Purified or de-mineralised water will be fine for storage overnight but you will need to get some solution and disinfect them properly before using again.

set up a eye exam if needed & ask them if the doctor has a trial pair to hold you over till your exam

People often asked me if they could shower, swim with their contacts, or if they can dip it with distilled water. Simple common sense will tell you that this is not possible. But for many reasons people still do, thinking they could get away from this.

Water is not intended to clean up your contact lenses from bacteria, fungi and viruses.
Worst is water may contain these elements or encourage such biodiversity.

Wearing contact lenses are fashionable than wearing flat and squared glasses. But they could be costly. And you should be well aware of it before deciding to wear them. Never settle for a home-produced saline solution, just to save some money. Use the proper contact solution!

One can use multipurpose solution to disinfect, clean, and store contact lenses. Saline solution can be used to clean up your contact lenses or to prepare your eyes for insertion. While hydrogen peroxide can be used to disinfect your lenses but must be neutralize before insertion. Once a week contact lenses users should do an enzymatic cleaning to remove protein build up.

What happen if you have a bad habit of not cleaning your lenses? Or you used distilled or tap water to store your lenses.

Your contacts create a thin biofilm, which is a breeding ground for microbial communities. Bio roots from the word life. Water is beneficial to life but not all life forms benefits us. It means that your contacts will encourage more bacteria and fungi. Think of your contacts as playground for bacteria.

The most threatening water life form is an amoeba called Acanthamoeba. This bacteria is present everywhere. It can be found in water whether tap, oceans, lakes, distilled and chlorinated. It is also found everywhere on your nasal passage (without causing harm to you), on air, and soil. And it definitely loves dirty contact lenses!

Acanthamoeba keratitis is a disease caused by this amoeba. you will need several corneal transplants to salvage your eye from total blindness. If you’re not lucky, it can make your eyeball rot.

More than 90% of people afflicted with Acanthamoeba keratitis are contact lenses user. People who washed their contacts in water and who used homemade saline solution. Or people who refused to be responsible with their contacts.

So if you happen to be at the most obscure location and you forgot to bring your saline solution, you better find a pharmacy or throw them away. Remove your lenses before bathing or swimming. You can obtain prescription goggles as a substitute. Also keep a handy wet facial tissue if you cannot avoid washing your face in a public washroom.