Have Extra Saline Solution You Don’t Know What To Do With?
If you’ve read our blog about the possible side effects of using expired solution, you know you should NEVER use it. If you’re saline solution is nearing its expiration date, consider using it for these few tasks so it doesn’t go to waste!
Clean your hands
Yes, soap and water is best. If you’re stranded in the car, sitting at your desk, or somewhere where you aren’t able to wash your hands, you can use your saline solution to give them a good rinse. If you feel like there is some debris on your contact and decide to take it out and pop it back in, use the saline to clean your finger beforehand. Don’t be afraid to really drench it (squirt it from every angle for at least a few seconds) to get it clean very clean.
Clean your lens
If your lens falls out and you have no other choice but to put it back in (i.e. you need to drive or see and don’t have time to get it home and stored properly), use your saline solution to temporarily clean your lens. Don’t skimp on the squirting though. Clean your hands or finger holding the lens first, and then squirt the lens on both sides until it is soaked with saline solution and looks clean and clear.
Re-wet your eye
Don’t have any re-wetting drops but feel like your eyes are dry? You can squirt saline right in your eyes, with your contacts in, to serve as artificial tears in a pinch.
Store dried out contacts
Don’t have any disinfectant on hand but aren’t ready to throw your contact lenses away? Then go ahead and store them in saline. You should still try to disinfectant them before you put them in your eyes, but the saline will keep them from getting dried out or ruined.
Clean out a container to store contacts in
Chances are, if you don’t have disinfectant on hand to clean your lenses, you likely don’t have a case or storage system to put them in either. In this case, you can use your bottle of saline solution to clean out a small plastic cup, a bottle, a plastic bag, or some other small container before you put your contact lenses in it to keep them moist until you can disinfect them.
