Contact lens

[Iggy]

I've been using contact lens for thirty years and plan to continue doing so. But a couple things make it a bit more problematic now that I'm a vandweller. 1) I have to be more aware of cleaning my hands before handling them. When living in a house, I just washed my hands in the bathroom and then took them out or put them in. No problem. In my van, I have no sink and baby wipes or hand sanitizer don't do as good of a job as soap and water. I haven't figured out a good solution to this yet. I worry about eye infections. 2) Cold weather. Last night it was in the low twenties and I awoke to my contacts frozen in their case. Saline solution freezes at 28°F. I started the Lil Buddy to unfreeze them (and me) and the lens seem to be fine. I think next time I will put them under my pillow or in my underwear.
Anyone else have problems or solutions with contact lens?

 

[christine]

I take it there's something keeping you from migrating to warmer weather. How about warming up a bottle of water, and then placing the warm bottle of water, the contact lens case, and the saline solution in a small cooler?

 

[Iggy]

That's a good idea, Christine! Especially if I stay in a cold area for an extended period of time. I'm stuck in the Salem, Oregon area at least till Thanksgiving, maybe a little longer. Family concerns and having a hard time saying goodbye to a few women in my life. But soon hopefully I'll be in southern California for the winter. Then no more worries about frozen contacts.

 

[highdesertranger]

sorry iggy but I had to chuckle about putting them "in my underwear". highdesertranger

 

[Reducto]

Keeping them in a pocket would be ideal, assuming the case has a cap that won't come undone easily. I never really thought about my contacts freezing before but I'm sure my extras have done so many times and they don't seem to have been damaged.

You really do need running water of some sort to get your hands clean enough - maybe a hand pump or a solar shower?

 

[Van Go]

Would a hand sprayer with soapy water and then one with clear rinse water work?

 

[Iggy]

They would work as long as they didn't freeze. I'm going to do that system. I really don't want an eye infection and can use those sprayers on dishes too.

Would a hand sprayer with soapy water and then one with clear rinse water work?

 

[xsyntriknomad]

I've been using contact lens for thirty years and plan to continue doing so. But a couple things make it a bit more problematic now that I'm a vandweller. 1) I have to be more aware of cleaning my hands before handling them. When living in a house, I just washed my hands in the bathroom and then took them out or put them in. No problem. In my van, I have no sink and baby wipes or hand sanitizer don't do as good of a job as soap and water. I haven't figured out a good solution to this yet. I worry about eye infections. 2) Cold weather. Last night it was in the low twenties and I awoke to my contacts frozen in their case. Saline solution freezes at 28°F. I started the Lil Buddy to unfreeze them (and me) and the lens seem to be fine. I think next time I will put them under my pillow or in my underwear.
Anyone else have problems or solutions with contact lens?

 

[StarEcho]

I had no problems until one windy day I got dust in my eyes and the next morning my eyes were scratching so bad I felt I had to take them out right away. Bad part is I was using hand sanitizer in my bathroom, which also has no sink and I had not even thought about the fact that I had just "washed my hands" in hand sanitizer. Well, long story short, 1 month later I still do not have the same vision in that eye. The cornea got so inflamed that 3 days after touching the left eye with hand sanitizer on my fingers, it was inflamed as much as it could be (4+ edema) and I had lost all vision in that eye except for light and dark. Scared the living crap out of me! A $1000 ER visit and an emergency ophthalmologist visit later, I had steroid drops and something for the extreme pain.
So moral of that story is be VERY careful with hand sanitizer if you wear contacts. I've taken to washing my hands in the tub and the hand sanitizer is gone.

 

[CosmickGold]

I had no problems until one windy day I got dust in my eyes and the next morning my eyes were scratching so bad I felt I had to take them out right away. Bad part is I was using hand sanitizer in my bathroom, which also has no sink and I had not even thought about the fact that I had just "washed my hands" in hand sanitizer. Well, long story short, 1 month later I still do not have the same vision in that eye. The cornea got so inflamed that 3 days after touching the left eye with hand sanitizer on my fingers, it was inflamed as much as it could be (4+ edema) and I had lost all vision in that eye except for light and dark. Scared the living crap out of me! A $1000 ER visit and an emergency ophthalmologist visit later, I had steroid drops and something for the extreme pain.
So moral of that story is be VERY careful with hand sanitizer if you wear contacts. I've taken to washing my hands in the tub and the hand sanitizer is gone.

Man, that's so terrible! I'm truly sorry you went through such an unpleasant and debilitating (I should say "horrible") experience.

It's good you posted your experience here to warn others. Hopefully, your words will save a number of people from that kind of experience. You are rescuing them!

I absolutely HATE hand sanitizer. My experience has not been nearly so bad as yours, not by a long shot. But I seem to be as allergic to that chemical as 99.9% of all germs are. I can no longer use the soap in public restrooms because if I get even a little of it on my skin, the skin will dry out, crack, and bleed for several days until new skin growth from underneath is able to push out and replace the skin the "sanitizer" soaked into. I'm not able to "wash it off" after exposure because it instantly soaks into my skin. The worst experience I had was when I asked the checkout clerk at a drug store where I could wash some candy off my hands. She said "Here, use this!" and gave me a wet wipe, so I thoroughly wiped my hands clean with it. I didn't consider the possibility it might contain hand sanitizer; I just immediately obeyed her command to "Use this!"

But It WAS soaked with hand sanitizer by the manufacturer, and my hands remained so sore, full of deep cracks, and bleeding, making them nearly unusable for about a month. (Not fun at all.) Obviously, I'll never trust anyone in that way again. I don't know how that stuff can be legal.

 

[AmargosaWayne]

Best part of getting older was needing cataract surgery, obviating the need for external corrective lenses all together.

Cheap reading glasses for reading the fine print, such as the "use by date".

My ex-wife was frugal to an extreme, she would wash only her index fingertip and thumb tip for handling her contacts.

 

[maki2]

Ok folks you are posting replies to a conversation that happened 5 years ago. Definitely might be needing reading glasses for the fine print showing the dates in the forum when things are posted

 

[GypsyJan]

Dates don't matter so much if the issue is still occuring....newer posts might have newer solutions. I would suggest a "finger bowl" as a sink and just washing the finger tips.

 

[BelgianPup]

Maki2, you seem to be an intelligent, knowledgeable person, but lately, you are sounding like you think the world revolves around your opinions. It doesn't.