If you run out of contact lens solution, immediately suppress the impulse to find a quick substitute. Contact lens solution is a complex, medically formulated product. Substituting it risks severe eye infections, corneal damage, and potential vision loss. The solution is specifically engineered to clean, disinfect, and maintain the precise hydration and shape of the lens material. Prioritizing eye safety over salvaging the lenses is the only safe course of action.
Immediate Lens Removal and Disposal
The safest and most urgent step when you are out of solution is to remove the lenses from your eyes immediately. Continued wear of lenses that cannot be properly cleaned and stored introduces a significant risk of infection. If you wear daily disposable lenses, discard them right away, as they are not meant to be stored for reuse.
For reusable lenses, the immediate action remains the same. Remove the lenses and place them into a clean, dry contact lens case. This temporary dry storage is acceptable only for a few hours while you secure a proper solution. Once the lenses dry out, they will shrink and stiffen, but they can often be rehydrated and disinfected when the correct solution becomes available. Do not wear any lens that has been stored dry until it has gone through a complete cleaning and disinfection cycle in fresh, purpose-made solution.
Why Common Household Liquids Are Dangerous
The substances people commonly consider for a makeshift solution are dangerous because they are not sterile. Tap water, for example, is not purified to medical standards and frequently contains microorganisms like Acanthamoeba. If this amoeba is trapped between the lens and the cornea, it can cause Acanthamoeba keratitis, a devastating eye infection.
Tap water also contains trace minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, which rapidly build up on the porous lens surface. These deposits lead to irritation, blurred vision, and rough surfaces that can scratch the cornea. Furthermore, tap water is hypotonic, meaning it has a lower salt concentration than natural tears. This difference causes soft lenses to absorb water, swell, and change shape, altering the lens fit and potentially causing discomfort or corneal abrasion.
Saliva is not a sterile fluid and is teeming with oral bacteria, including strains that can cause serious eye infections like Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Using saliva transfers this concentrated microbial load directly to the eye’s surface. Homemade saltwater solutions are also unsafe because achieving the necessary sterility and precise saline concentration at home is impossible. An improperly balanced solution will fail to hydrate the lens correctly or introduce harmful bacteria.
Sterile Saline: A Rinse, Not a Solution
Sterile saline solution is the closest non-disinfecting product to an acceptable temporary substitute, but it has a severely limited role. It is a simple, pH-balanced mixture of purified water and salt, formulated to match the natural salinity of tears. Sterile saline is intended only for rinsing the contact lens to remove debris or to rewet the lens before insertion.
Crucially, saline solution contains no cleaning agents, surfactants, or disinfecting compounds. Storing a lens in saline, even for a single night, will not kill the bacteria, fungi, and other pathogens that accumulate on the lens during wear. Lenses stored in saline can become a breeding ground for harmful microbes. While saline prevents the lens from drying out, it provides no protection against infection, which is the primary danger of improper lens care.
If only sterile saline is available, it can only be used as a rinse. The lens must still be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with a proper multi-purpose solution before being worn again.
Securing Proper Care and Storage
The most responsible action is to acquire a commercially prepared, multi-purpose contact lens solution as quickly as possible. These solutions are available at 24-hour pharmacies, large grocery stores, and some convenience or gas stations. Purchasing a proper solution immediately is the only way to ensure the health of your eyes and the integrity of your lenses.
If reusable lenses were placed in dry storage for a brief period, they must be fully submerged in fresh solution. Allow them to soak for the minimum recommended disinfection time before wearing them. If the lenses were exposed to any non-sterile substitute, such as tap water or saliva, the risk of contamination is too high, and the safest course of action is to discard them immediately.