Preservative free saline crisis-AARG!

[BusyLizzy]

Hi Peeps,
I may have been a little slow to cotton on to the general supply shortage of Ciba Vision Saline Solution (Preservative free). Forgive me...but I'm down to the last fifth of my bottle and can't get any anywhere. It's the only kind I can use without irritation and gunk...

So I would welcome any advice on a suitable alternative.

One website is recommending Amo Purite, but I'm a little reluctant to trust that without some input from others incase they're in cahoots with the supplier or just have too much of it to sell!

Thanks for reading this and do let me know what you'd recommend (especially if you happen to be an optometrist!).

So...Amo Purite: Yay or nay?

[GarethB]

Sorry BusyLizzy,

The only stuff I can tolerate has the preservativepolyaminopropyl biguanide (0.00003%) from Bausch & Lomb.

Cibavision saline irritates the hell out of my eyes.

Good luck with your search.

[Lynn White]

Purite saline solutions are based on the fact that the preservative breaks down into components that are near to human tears on exposure to UV, ie as soon as the stuff exits the bottle!

Thus they are usually fine for people who are allergic to preservatives. The only way to tell if you are truly OK with something, though, is to try it.

Years ago, I had terrible trouble with solutions as the preservatives were either thiomersal or chlorhexidine based and I am allergic to both. I always used aerosol salines though they were entirely annoying as you always had a bout 25% left in the can when the aerosol gas ran out!

Lynn

[sarah.w]

Hi well i have always used a preservative free solution for cleaning off my scerals and so have had a nightmare with finding soluitions! Luckily for me though i have no problems with preservative or preservative free saline. Anyway both vision express and specsavers do preservative free saline, hope you have these opticians near you
sarah

[BusyLizzy]

Ta muchly for your hints ,
I live quite a distance from the nearest Specsavers and Vision Express, so I've ordered Amo Purite online from Garden Pharmacy and will give it a go.
If it's okay, I may try to persuade my local Boots to order it, as they don't have any alternative to the usual Ciba Vision saline they stock while it's unavailable.
Thanks again.

Lyndsey

[andytaylor]

I've been having much difficulty getting preservative free saline - I work in Islington but none of the local opticians/chemists seem to carry anything I can use. I finally got some at Vision Express, Oxford St. today .

I was buying Sainsbury's brand aerosol but none of the local stores carry it. When that ran out I was nicking my partner's all in one solution for rinsing.

I read elsewhere that the Canadian factory that makes Ciba Vision had to shut down due to the wrong lubricant being used in the sterile machinery. Oops.