Contact lens solutions are NOT all the same

We ask our contact lens patients every day, which cleaning regimen to use? We often hear, “Oh, I usually use the green bottle but when it’s not on sale I use the blue one.” This is our cue that this patient needs some education. First, even among the BRANDED varieties, the contact lens solutions are not all the same. While one may not necessarily be better than all the other (though I certainly have my opinions) they are all designed for different types of contact lenses and different types of contact lens WEARERS. Yesterday’s hydrogel lenses (i.e. Acuvue 2) will survive with a no-rub multipurpose solution but today’s modern technology (ie. Air Optix Night & Day) demand a better cleaning system with digital rub due to the silicone component in the lens. Moreover and likely more importantly, not all GREEN bottles are the same! For instance, Target markets their private label in a green bottle. They are no dummies. When the blue bottles were recalled a few years back, Target knew they had to change their blue bottle to a green one to avoid the backlash of ‘educated’ buyers who knew to steer clear of the blue bottle. However, did you know that the solution in Target’s GREEN bottle is almost identical to what’s in the blue branded bottle? Yup. So, when your eye doctor asks you which solution, try to be specific about what brand, what name, what type of solution you use. Heck, bring the bottle, we don’t care! We just want to make sure that if we tell you to use Opti-Free and 6 months down the road you have an eye problem (because you have switched to a lower priced private label green bottle) we need as much information as possible to help correct the problem.