CHEMICALLY SENSITIVE PEOPLE AND CONTACT LENSES: SOFT LENCES

APRIL 2ND, 2009
By ADMIN

The chemically sensitive should be careful with the hygiene solutions they use on their lenses.

Soft Lenses

Soft contact lenses need particular care. The material of the lens acts like a sponge and takes up fluid from the eye, and from cleansing and soaking solutions. A significant proportion of the volume of the finished lens can in fact be fluid and any chemical in the solutions used on the lenses will be absorbed into the lens itself, and be held in contact with the eye.

Older preservative-based soft lens cleansing systems use a wide range of chemicals as germ-killing agents. All are liable to cause irritation and symptoms in the average soft lens-user, not just in the chemically sensitive. You should look for a preservative-free system.

Some modern preservative-free cleansing systems use hydrogen peroxide as the germ-killing agent in an aqueous solution. If used properly, these peroxide systems cause no problems at all to the chemically sensitive. The soft lens is soaked in the peroxide solution overnight. In the morning, the lens needs to be rinsed to remove the peroxide which will cause smarting, but no harm, if it is left on the lens. A neutralising agent is therefore used in the morning to remove the peroxide.