People who wear contacts use solutions for a variety of purposes. People who wear daily disposables receive their lenses in a buffered saline solution which ensures the contact lens stays moist and doesn’t dry up. The buffered saline solution is also designed to maintain a constant Ph level for maximum comfort to the eye. Other solutions should not be used with daily disposable contact lenses as it is unnecessary and can react badly with the eye.
For people who wear longer duration products. Solutions are necessary for keeping their contacts cleans. Leading names in this area are Ciba Vision and Bausch & Lomb as well as the solid Acuvue contact lenses.
These lenses also come in a buffered saline solution which performs the same function as with daily disposable lenses. Saline solution can be bought separately from the companies and can be used to store contact lenses in their lens cases an keep the moist. It can also be used to rinse contacts. It does not however disinfect lenses and just using saline solution with two weekly disposable lenses might lead to discomfort and infection.
Acuvue contact lenses can be disinfected with a variety of hydrogen peroxide based solutions.
There is a solution called AO Sept made by the manufacturer Ciba Vision and there is another very similar solution made by Bausch and Lomb called Easysept. Sauflon also does a good product, available in one month packets.
Most Acuvue lenses will work well with these solutions though the solutions were originally developed with hard contacts not soft lens. Hydrogen peroxide solutions are usually around 3% hydrogen peroxide, but they are still strong. This means that once lenses have been put in this solution, they should not be worn for a period whilst the acid is neutralised. In old versions of the solution, something would have to be added to neutralise the solution, but the two mentioned above both do it automatically and are just left alone for six hours in the cleaning tank.
Most of the competitors in this area – the Bosch & Lomb, Ciba Vision and Acuvue contact lenses – are now most commonly used with multipurpose solutions. These are solutions that are supposed to disinfect contacts but also can be used to rinse or store lenses in. The solution is such that it won’t cause discomfort to the eye even if it is put on thee contact lens and the contact lens is put straight back in the eye. Two well known examples of solutions of this type are Renu Multipurpose solution and Complete Multipurpose solution.