Lily Miller To begin with, can you use contact solution as eye drops? It is not recommended to use contact solution as eye drops.
Over time, irritation and redness may develop in your eye if the solution comes into contact with it frequently. Ingredients intended to clean contact lenses between uses are present in contact solution formulations.
Keep reading.
Table of Contents
What Is Contact Solution?
A specially formulated chemical solution known as a contact solution is used to clean contacts gently and without harming them. The solution can be envisioned as a contact lens cleaner. When not in use, the contact solution will keep the lenses lubricated and clean.
How Effective Are Contact Solution Eye Drops?
You’ve probably experienced dry eyes and a time crunch if you wear contacts. You don’t have any eye drops with you, but you do have contact solution. What would be a suitable replacement for the contact solution? You must agree that it ought to. You use it to clean your contacts; shouldn’t you be able to use it as a straightforward eye drop as well?
The answer is no because, as was previously mentioned, contact solution and eye drops have very different chemical structures. Use of contact solutions on the eyes is not recommended.
Contact solution is primarily used to clean contact lenses of accumulated dirt and bacteria. Drops applied to the eyes are not recommended. Although saline solution, which is safe for the eyes, is a component of contact solution, it also contains cleaning agents. The part that can really hurt your eyes is these cleaning substances.
How Does Contact Solution In The Eye Affect You?
Your tear film has three layers. The outer oil layer is in charge of preventing the other layers’ moisture from evaporating.
Any type of solution with a cleaning component, such as contact solutions, are designed to disinfect your contact lenses and break down organic materials like oil. The goal is to make sure the contacts are clean enough to go into your eyes. If you frequently use this cleaning solution as eye drops, your tear film will eventually be damaged, which will cause your eyes to dry out and be extremely itchy and painful.
What Can You Use?
You may not be aware of what can be used to hydrate your eyes because they are so dry. When wearing contacts, the eye can become very dry. To hydrate the eyes safely, use a top-of-the-line eye drop. especially one intended for use with contact lenses.
What Distinguishes Contact Solution From Eye Drops?
Contact solutions and eye drops (also referred to as rewetting drops) are two very distinct things with very different applications.
Rewetting drops are ideal for hydrating your eyes, especially if you wear contacts. Your best option for treating dry, irritated eyes is unquestionably this.
To wash and disinfect your contacts, however, you must use contact solution, which contains a variety of cleaners. This solution keeps you from getting eye infections from the “stuff” that is on your contacts.
Are There Good Or Bad Contact Lens Solutions?
When it comes to cleaning and storing your contact lenses, contact lens solutions excel. They work to eliminate microorganisms on your lenses. Therefore, they are poisonous to all living cells, including your own. The vast majority are preserved using chemicals that are harmful to eyes and can occasionally result in long-lasting inflammation.
While wearing your lens, there may be a strong temptation to add a little moisture by squeezing a drop of storage solution directly into your eye. However, if you want to be able to wear your lenses for an extended period of time, avoid using this technique.
Instead of using your solution to rehydrate the lenses if your eyes are dry or uncomfortable, try treating the dryness. There are a number of superb cutting-edge contact lens materials that lessen feelings of dryness. Several non-preserved tear substitutes are also available to treat dryness and irritation.
Why Are Contact Lenses So Common?
Contact lenses are one of the preferred means of correcting vision problems. In comparison to large, cumbersome eyeglasses, they are undoubtedly more convenient. When it comes to travel and athletics, this is especially true.
Even though laser eye surgery is an option for treating vision issues, contact lenses are still widely used. The price of surgery may be the cause of this. Alternately, anxiety and fear over the dangers and difficulties involved in such procedures.
The Downside To Contact Lenses
While contact lenses may be less expensive, safer, and more convenient than glasses or surgery, they also have drawbacks.
The safety of these lenses, which are frequently too small and fragile to handle, is a concern for people with vision issues. These lenses should always be handled carefully because of this.
Contact lenses are delicate and fragile and they should not be exposed to other fluids apart from the following:
- Natural fluids in your eyes
- Special contact lens solutions
- Hydrating / lubricating eye drops
Best Eye Drops For Use With Contact Lenses
Contact lens wearers typically only invest in contact lens cleaning solutions. However, if you wear contact lenses, your eyes can become extremely dry in some situations.
If you can’t take the lenses off and wear your glasses, you’ll need to do something to add moisture to the area where the lenses are worn because this can make it unbearable to wear the lenses.
Especially if you do not have access to eye drops especially created for your lenses, you would probably feel helpless. Use the overnight storage solution as a backup if you don’t have access to a suitable lubricant. BUT BEWARE!
See more about How To Put In Eye Drops
Why Contact Lens Solution Shouldn’t Go In Your Eye?
Your contact lens disinfecting and storage solution should be swapped out for preservative-free lubricating eye drops.
Here are some easy steps:
- Your contact lens solution may be the source of your eye irritation, which is highly likely.
- The last resort should be to use your storage option.
- Always choose non-preserved ampules (unit dose) if you frequently use lubricating drops. The eyes can be poisoned by preservatives in any kind of bottled solution.
- Make sure not to touch the bottle’s tip to your eye or eyelashes if you have nothing else available to you besides your contact lens solution. Contact can contaminate the solution, which could lead to you getting an eye infection.
- You should seek advice from your optometrist right away if you suspect that you are sensitive to the lens storage solution (keep in mind that this is quite common).
- One of the main reasons why many patients eventually stop wearing contact lenses is long-term sensitivity to contact lens solutions.
- It IS POSSIBLE to lubricate lenses with specific storage solutions. BUT it must be an all-encompassing, multifunctional solution. You will need to go to the emergency room if you use peroxide solution, which is great for cleaning your contact lenses, directly in the eye.
Can Saline Solution Be Used As Eye Drops?
Instead of using actual eye drops, you can use the saline solution that is intended to clean off your contact lenses as an eye drop. Remember that saline solution wasn’t intended for that before proceeding. When used, it might give the eyes a slight feeling of increased hydration, but it’s still crucial to use the correct eye drops for the situation.
Dry Eyes: Should You Stop Wearing Contacts?
The dry eyes that they experience while wearing contact lenses causes many people to stop wearing them. You shouldn’t give up on contacts just yet, even though dry eye is a common issue when wearing contacts. You could get the support you need to wear contacts as intended by speaking with your doctor.
Having dry and uncomfortable contacts shouldn’t be constant. Consult your eye doctor about a prescription eye drop to help promote real tears and hydrate the eyes if you suffer from dry eyes.
Some Important Information
Even if you wear contact lenses, there are some crucial guidelines to follow for maintaining healthy eyes. Keeping the eye comfortable and moisturized is a good idea. You can get more assistance and information by speaking with your nearby eye doctor if you ever have any questions about your contact lenses.
- Every night before you go to bed, take out your contact lenses. Wearing contact lenses all night is not advised. Put on your glasses at this point.
- Use only contact solutions designed for your lenses. Try not to come up with your own fix.
- Remove your contact lenses and contact your eye doctor right away if you experience any eye pain or redness. An infection might be to blame. Even pink eye can enter the brain from behind the eye and cause death. In the event of an infection, seek medical attention immediately.
Final Words
Simply put, you shouldn’t use your contact solution for eye drops. Instead of hydrating the eye, the contact solution is designed to clean your contact lenses. Saline solution is produced for this very reason—it allows you to rinse the contact solution from the lenses before applying them to the eyes.
I appreciate you reading, a lot.
