Suddenly Struggling

[donna]

http://www.20-20.co.uk/Contact-Lenses2.asp

They have preservative free solutions

[GarethB]

Matthew,

At the 2005 confrence I spoke to several people in your position. For ease, they use the normal solutions for cleaning their lenses and then do one of the following;

1) Rinse all cleaning solution off with preservative free saline and store lenses dry. The use the preservative free saline to wet the lnes before they put them in.

2) Rinse the cleaning solution off and store in the conditioning/wetting solution which also disinfects the lenses. Then before puting the lenses in, rinse them thoroughly with preservative free saline and use the saline as the wetting solution too.

I personally follow the latter, but still need the Systane which is also preservative free when in the ampoules.

[Andrew MacLean]

Matthew

Like you I have an allergy to the preservatives they put in solutions. Sometimes the cleaning solutions with preservatives are unavoidable, so you have to be careful to rinse them thoroughly before putting the lens back in your eye.

I use preservative free saline. Alcon do one called Unisol 4, but I guess that other brands are available. If you can't source thislocally, I know that you can buy online.

[GarethB]

Even with preservative free salines sometimes they too can cause irritation. I have tried many and for me the best is the Baush & Lomb Sensitive Eyes plus saline.

So if you still have solution problems, it will then be a case of finding which is best for you. The ingredients may well be the same, but the proportions may be different.

Good luck, now you know the problem you can travel the path to find what is best for you to manage things in the future. It may be long, mine was six months but well worth it.

[Matthew_]

Great guys, thanks very much. Did you say Systane is preservative free in ampules? I guess the bottles have preservatives then?

[GarethB]

Matthew,

Your statment is correct.