Contact Lenses Care

Soft Contact Lens Enzyme Tablets Cleaning

Cleaning with a surfactant cleansing solution and disinfecting may not remove all the deposits that cling stubbornly to the lens surface. To remove these deposits a special enzyme solution is used; this “digests” and dissolves lens proteins much the same way the enzymes in your body help break down protein.

You should use the enzyme cleaner once a week to help prevent buildup of protein deposits. (To help you remember, perform this procedure on the same day every week—the first or the last day, or every Wednesday, etc.) Once deposits are established, they will increase and can pit the lens surface, leaving it damaged even after it’s purged of the accumulations. Enzyming is especially important for those who tend to produce tears heavily laden with protein. Factors such as air pollution, makeup, and eye irritation increase production of this protein.

The enzyme tablets come in a starter kit, which also contains two vials for mixing and soaking (one for each lens) and a “lens retriever” to help remove the lenses from the solution. After using up the starter tablets you can buy the tablets from your doctor or pharmacy and keep using the original vials and retriever.

To use the enzymatic cleaner follow the informative circular that the manufacturer provides with the package. Though the instructions suggest simply rinsing the lenses with saline before submerging the lenses in the enzyme solution, I would recommend that you use cleaning solution and rinse off the lenses thoroughly with saline. Also, instead of dissolving the enzyme tablet in distilled water, you may use premixed saline solution if you don’t have distilled water on hand.

If you are allergic to the chemicals in preserved saline, I still recommend enzyming the lenses once a week and using the heat method of disinfection. If the chemicals in the enzyme cleaner affect your eyes, you can leach the lenses by soaking them in pure, unpreserved saline for several hours after enzyming.

Soft Contact Lens Lubricating Solutions

Soft lenses are generally more comfortable than hard lenses. But an eye that’s even slightly dry can cause soft-lens discomfort. To restore adequate moisture you can instill a drop or two of saline solution while wearing the lenses. Or you can use one of the special lubricating solutions formulated for contact lenses. These will clean, lubricate, and cushion the lenses while they’re still in your eye, and may be used as often as needed. Decongestants, which are not formulated for contact lens use, contain chemicals that may be absorbed by the lenses and are definitely to be avoided. Never use any eye drops not recommended by your doctor while you are wearing soft contact lenses.

Soft Contact Lens Mechanical Cleaning

Mechanical cleaning (massaging the lens with saline) is very important to maintain the integrity of the lens. If this procedure is omitted, a light filmy deposit will form on the lens, especially if it is heat disinfected. The lens will eventually become less comfortable, less transparent, and allow less oxygen to pass through it. In just a few weeks the lens will have to be replaced. Mechanical cleaning, therefore, is integral to every soft-lens wearer’s regimen. For some wearers, however, it is the only method recommended for cleansing their lenses.

The surfactant cleaners, chemical disinfecting solutions, and preserved saline solutions all contain chemicals that the soft plastic lenses can absorb and then release into the eye. About 20 percent of soft-lens wearers are allergic to preservatives and therefore should not use the solutions that contain them. Usually switching to nonpreserved saline solution and thermal disinfection will solve the problem.

Such was the case with one of my patients. She had been using the cold disinfection method for a few months with no problems. One day she walked into my office with red, itchy, irritated eyes and a whitish ocular discharge. After purging her lenses of the chemicals, I placed her on a strict, no-preservative regimen that utilized a mechanical cleaning method, an unpreserved saline solution that she mixed herself, thermal sterilization, and once-a-week enzyming. Every day she removed her lenses, placed them one at a time in the palm of her hand, and placed several drops of the saline on the lens. She then massaged the lens with the index finger of her other hand for at least one minute to remove the accumulated dirt. After rinsing the lens with nonpreserved saline, it was ready for heat sterilization. This procedure has proved so successful, I now prescribe it for most of my allergic patients.

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