WARNING: This is VERY TEXT HEAVY x.x
Hi guys! I’m pretty excited to start blogging again. Honestly I’ve missed the blogger world. The community is much more intimate, and I’ve always appreciated being able to articulate my thoughts a bit better than I can in my videos. It’ll definitely be a delicate balance blogging while trying to maintain both my and my friend’s privacy, but I’m excited for the challenge and excited to be back!
So as many of you know, I haven’t been filming quite as often because of some issues with my eyes. They were enflamed, burning, dry, tearing, and light sensitive. Many of you offered your insight (a sty, ulcers and pink eye were common suggestions hehe) but I’ve actually had both eye ulcers and pink eye, and I knew whatever was going on was deeper than that. I must urge people to not be as stubborn as I am. I’ve never been a fan of medications or doctors, and as a disclaimer I must state that I am not one and so this post is purely my opinion and experience which you must take at your own risk. Anyway I think what first let me know this was different was that it would go away and then come back, it was unresponsive to antibacterial drops and my eye would go back to being okay after opening a new set of contacts
When the irritation first began I took a picture and posted it on facebook (I was trying to find some humor in it haha) and a friend recommended Clear Care to me. She told me she had been having the same problem and that it was because the contact solution she used was not thoroughly cleaning her lenses. I kind of dismissed it because generally speaking I’m not really open to change. I’ve used the same solution for 6 years. Its one of the more expensive brand names and I didn’t see why it would suddenly fail me. Then I decided to post up a video of my eye for more kicks and giggles on my Youtube and stumbled upon the following comment:
After this comment even more flooded in, all suggesting clear care saying that they had experienced the same thing.
I googled it (above and it came up without me even finishing it...which means it gets searched for often -_-) and pages and pages of hits came up talking about complications people experienced with Optifree solution and Acuvue Oasys contacts. Needles to say I was pretty convinced at this point. I headed over to Costco and bought a 2 16oz bottle pack of Clear Care. I read the instructions, and for good measure soaked my OLD lenses (that had been irritating me to see if it was the cause) three times…I put them in and BAM. No issues, no redness, no tearing, no light sensitivity. So I don’t know if allergens were being caught in my lenses or Opti Free simply doesn’t clean them well, but either way the two don’t work together in my case. I really cant thank you guys enough…I probably wouldn’t have gone until I absolutely couldn’t take it anymore. I have a pretty high pain threshold…so who knows how long that would have been -_-
For those you unfamiliar with Clear Care, it is a hydrogen peroxide solution. The case contains a metal ring that speeds up the neutralization process. Normally this would take days or even weeks to totally neutralize, but the ring speeds up the reaction so that it only takes 6 hours.
You take out your contacts (L and R are labeled) and put each on their respective side and then close the hinge over the lens. Do NOT use this solution with ANY other case. Only this case will neutralize the solution
Then you fill the container to the fill line and close it, and then you let it sit for 6 hours. THEY ARE NOT KIDDING. Do NOT put it in your eye before 6 hours, it will BURN your eye and has the potential to damage it.
Its $16.79 before Tax at Costco for two(2) 16 oz bottles of solution, 2 cases and one small travel bottle (for you Jetsetters). I just wanted to get the word out there because according to my comments this has happened to many, many of you. It sucks because opti-free has always been viewed as a superior brand name product, but I guess it goes to show that it definitely isn’t perfect. From what I saw it seems to only work adversely with the Oasys contacts, but I can’t help but say both of these products are on my forever poopoo list. That and I never noticed a huge difference between all the Acuvue contacts anyway so I don’t mind switching. I just took whatever my optometrist gave me and he’d usually switch me to whichever was the newest (wonder why =p).
So let me list the pros and cons as I see it:
CONS: I can see this being very expensive. You need to fill the container to the fill line, and the two bottles (according to people’s blogs) lasts only 5-6 weeks. I’m not sure what the volume of the container is, but an eyeball guess is that you’re using at least 4-6x the amount of solution daily. Normally that Costco pack of Opti-free that’s the same volume would last me most of the year! So quite costly indeed :/ I’ve seen some people say that they switch between this and regular solution (either every other day or Clear Care every 3 days), but I’m not so sure that I would feel comfortable doing that now considering the huge pain my eyes have been. However it would definitely cut down the cost and inconvenience if you are willing to try it.
You have to wait 6 hours to use them. They’re not kidding when they say this, you can Google a bunch of people’s stories when they mistook it for normal solution and received a most unpleasant surprise. Obviously this is a huge inconvenience! You’ll need to have some glasses on hand, but a friend suggested to me that if for whatever reason you need to wear them earlier than that to thoroughly rinse them with normal sterile saline solution…which would mean you’d need to have both on hand! I’d still be scared to do this because of all the horror stories of people hurting their eyes because they got some in their eyes, but I suppose its something to try if you’re in a pinch.
Also some people have mentioned issues with this system making contacts tear more easily, fortunately I haven't had this problem yet. But I do think its a bit cumbersome and time consuming to use...normally taking out/putting in contacts takes me a few seconds for each eye, so this does lengthen up the process. I also don’t always get 6 hours of rest every day, so Its definitely going to take some getting used to to take them out in time so they have enough time to soak.
PROS: You'll feel like you're wearing a new pair of contacts every time. Its also preservative free for those of you sensitive to them. I also like how the bottle has the same volume as other solutions but is tall and slender...which means more counter space ;D Its also fun to watch the bubbling action! haha
So thats it! As you guys can see my eyes are totally and %100 better :) It literally cleared it up right away. I hope this helps some of you guys that have been struggling as well.
love, Jackie
