As this
review site is primarily dedicated to food reviews, I thought I might take time
aside to address a non-food item that I use daily…. contact lens solution. I
have been wearing contacts for over forty years and while much has changed in
the style and comforts of contacts; little has changed in the solutions used
for cleaning, rinsing, storage, and disinfecting. Name brand solutions such as
Opti-Free, Acuvue and Bausch and Lomb are the reputable brands that are usually
carried and endorsed by Optometrists; my own being no exception. After my
annual eye exam, I usually enjoy the benefit of the practitioner sending me
home with several “sample sizes” of Opti-Free which usually gets me through a
month of solution. The honeymoon is then over when I shop for contact lens
solutions to replace the used-up samples. A standard bottle of multipurpose
contact lens solution from these name brands can range anywhere between $10 and
$20 per bottle. I usually go with the Opti-Free solution that is about $10.
However, awhile back I decided to give the Walmart Equate brand multipurpose
contact lens solution a try. I went with the twin pack (2 – 12-ounce bottles)
for about measly eight dollars.
Packaging
The packaging
consists of a white and green box with big “2 Pack” written on top across a
yellow band. The bottles within the box contain a plastic safety seal that needs
to be carefully removed to be able to open the bottle. There is no storage case
included like I sometimes receive with the Opti-Free box.
Multi
Purpose Function
Once
upon a time, owning a pair of contacts usually meant having to keep several
different solutions on hand. One bottle was for disinfecting, the other for storage,
one for rinsing, etc. Thank goodness these companies decided to come up with a
multi-purpose solution that did all these functions, a huge cost saver. The
Equate brand covers all these functions. Once the contact lens is removed, I
rinse each contact under a stream of the solution and place them in the storage
container. I did not notice any different steps between using Equate vs
Opti-Free solution.
Results
So, was
the cost savings a game changer for using Equate and dumping Opti-Free? Not
really. While going through the first phase of using the Walmart brand, I had
used the solution freely as I would use a more generous amount to really rinse
those contacts since I saved so much money up front. When using the Equate
brand, aside from using a steady stream to clean the contacts, I also had to give
the lenses a good rub between thumb and forefinger to remove any deposits that
built up that were not naturally removed by the disinfectant (as the Opti-Free
did a better job of really cleaning the contacts). The first two bottles did do
a decent job of rinsing and storing the contacts, though cleaning and
disinfecting were “fair” at best. When I used up the two bottles of the Walmart
Equate brand, I decided to purchase another: big mistake! Upon first using the
solution, I noticed that my eyes were slightly irritated with a slight stinging
sensation and could not even keep the lenses in my eyes, so I had to wear
glasses that day. I wasn’t sure if I was getting a false positive due to maybe
something like soap or debris, so I tried again the next day and experienced
the same irritation. Naturally I went back to Opti-Free. I may or may not give
Equate another shot in the future as perhaps that bad experience was chalked up
to a bad batch. I would rate this a do not buy to potentially a “fair” grade.
