Lens Solution – Saline Solution
Figure 1. Bottles of lens solution/saline solution
Nowadays, people prefer contact lens more than spectacles or glasses. Contact lens can help us to get rid of nerd-looking and troublesome glasses. Some contact lens which are colourless, which is most popular among the people with short sightedness. It is very easy to wear on without being noticed by anyone else, at the same time we do not have to worry about breaking the pricey glasses.
Figure 2. Sample of coloured ring lens.
Figure 3. Proper way of wearing on the contact lens.
However, eyes infections are easily triggered if there is no proper care for both the lens and eyes. Our eyes are the only organ in our body which has no immune system at all, therefore bacteria or infection can easily attack our eyes balls. Our eyes balls have connecting tissues which directly connected to our brain, if there is any infection at our eye balls, it will directly affect our brain too. That is why optician usually encourage people not to wear contact lens for long hours or too frequently, because the longer time the lens stay at our eyes, the higher probability or chances to get infection in our eyes. All contact lenses reduce the amount of oxygen reaching the clear front surface of the eye (the cornea) and thereby increase the risk of eye problems to some degree. Our eyes have no immune system to help us to kill the bacteria that lives in our eyes, any damage or infection can occur easily which might eventually leads to blindness.
Figure 5. Conjunctivitis.
One of the eyes infection caused by the contact lens.
So, that is why the lens solution is created and available in every pharmacy or market. We can see many lens solution products sale, each one is labeled with “Hygiene Guaranteed” for the lens solution users. Lens solution is a solution of sodium chloride, or salt in sterile water. Lens users have to rinse their lens before wearing it on and also after taking it out, and then the lens will be kept in a small case which is filled with lens solution too. Majority of the contact lens users would prefer multipurpose solution, which is for cleaning, rinsing, disinfecting and storing your contact lenses. With multipurpose solutions, no other lens care products are necessary.
For further explanation, we will use a bottle of Bausch and Lomb ReNu lens solution as a sample.
- A sterile, isotonic solution that contains Hydranate
- Boric acid
- Edetate disodium
- Poloxamine
- Sodium borate
- Sodium chloride.
Hydranate
Known by chemists as hydroxyalkylphosphonate, it removes protein deposits, eliminating the hassle of a separate enzyme treatment. The eye's lubricating fluid contains mucus protein, which over time can build up and cloud your vision like a snot cataract. Hydranate is a compound that traps the mucus molecules and lifts them off the surface of the lens.
Boric Acid
It's a fire retardant, a nuclear-reaction controller, and the stuff that turns silicone oil into Silly Putty. Grandma knew it as an antiseptic eyewash; here it's also a pH buffer. But boric acid has been tagged by the feds as an infant-killing poison.
Edetate Disodium
This commonly used compound sequesters metallic ions (calcium from tears or possibly particles from air pollution) that might otherwise react with the lens.
Poloxamine
Made of multiple oxyethylene and oxypropylene segments, poloxamine is used in gene therapy as an alternative to artificial viruses for carrying DNA into cells.
Sodium Borate
More widely recognized under the alias Borax, it's the same crystalline alkali dust found in Death Valley. It's added to ReNu as a buffering agent, keeping the solution at a comfy pH of 6.5 to 7.8.
Sodium Chloride
Since soft lenses are liquid permeable, you want to make sure that your cleaning fluids are as osmotically close to tears as possible. That calls for a pinch of salt—otherwise, the lenses would dry out. Add too much, of course, and your lenses will suck all the moisture out of your eyes, get oversaturated, and start to weep.
You can also make your own home-made lens solution! Things needed are distilled water or deionised water, laboratory grade sodium chloride or plain cooking salt and a clean sterile container to keep your lens solution. How to approximate the correct amount of salt? Let’s say you are aiming to make 1 litre of lens solution, you would need 9 grams of salt for every litre. Mix the salt and distilled water, and stir them well, then keep it in a clean sterile bottle.
Regardless of which brands of solution you use, do remember you shall never ever touch the solution bottle tips to any surface including your body because this can cause contamination of the solution. Avoid getting tap water on your contact lenses and accessories, as it can carry an microorganism called Acanthamoeba that causes serious eye infections. Remember to clean yur contact lens accessories as directed periodically. Lens cases should be rinsed with hot tap water and dried when not in use because Acanthamoeba may be present in tap water and can survive for years after drying.
REFERENCES
White, G. (March,2010) Caring For Soft Contact Lens. Adapted from : http://www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/caresoftlens.htm, Retrieved on 22March2010.
Forsythe,C. (2009) Make Your Own Saline Solution. Adapted from: http://www.craig.copperleife.com/health/saline.htm, Retrieved on 22March2010.
Beam,J. (March,16 2010) What Is Saline Solution. Adapted from: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-saline-solution.htm, Retrieved on 22March2010.
Justo,P.D. (January,19 2009) What's inside: Bausch and Lomb ReNu. Adapted from: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-02/st_whatsinside, Retrieved on 22March2010.
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