Contact Lenses Solution Substitutes

 Over 36 million people in North America wear contact lenses. Over 36 million contact wearers live in North America, all of whom use contact lenses solution in some form or another. However, from time to time it may be necessary to find an alternative when needs must. Rather than just storing your lenses in a solution that could damage the lens or your eyes, try one of a few contact lenses solution substitutes you should easily be able to find.

Most contact lenses solutions contain some saline solution. Saline solution, or water that contains dissolved salts, acts as a rinsing agent to prepare the contact lenses for wear by removing any debris and keeping the water balance of the lenses correct. Different types of lenses will have different levels of water in them and saline solution can upset this balance. It is not recommended that you make your own saline solution as it can damage contact lenses but, in emergencies, you can resort to storing your lenses in saline solution as long as they are removed and soaked in contact lenses solution as soon as is possible.
Distilled water is a much safer alternative to using water to store your lenses. Tap water can carry a microorganism called Acanthamoeba that causes serious eye infections, so if you really need to, use distilled water in emergencies. Distilled water will not contain this or any other harmful microorganisms but it is still possible for complications and infections to occur.
If you do not have access to distilled water, you could add a pinch of salt to ordinary tap water to store your lenses in. As with saline solution and distilled water, only use saltwater in an emergency. By adding salt to the water, some harmful bacteria will be eliminated, but it is not a foolproof or long-term solution; diseases could still be present in the water. As soon as you can, remove the lenses from the saltwater and wash them thoroughly with contact lenses solution.
A common trick to store contact lenses or to moisturize them is to do so with eye drops. As eye drops are designed to be used in the eyes, if you wash or store your lenses in them, they will not cause any aggravation to your eyes. As with all other contact lenses solution substitutes, make sure you wash your lenses with solution after using eye drops as an emergency measure.