Question
I've worn RGP contacts for about 15 years but recently have encountered a few questions I wondered if you might be able to answer:
1) I've heard a number of people rave about Clear Care(hydrogen peroxide solution) and was thinking of trying it with my RGP lenses. Clear Care advertises that it is compatible with "all soft and RGP lenses." A number of websites, however claim that hydrogen peroxide should not be used with fluoro silicone acrylate lenses. For example:
* "Cracking and brittleness of lenses occurs if used to disinfect fluorosilicone acrylate rigid gas-permeable lenses" with H2O2. http://www.planetrx.com/library/articles/index.cfm/ID/24917
* "Fluorosilicone acrylate lenses should not be disinfected with hydrogen peroxide." http://www.cedrugstorenews.com/userapp//lessons/page_view_ui.cfm?lessonuid=&page...
My understanding is that many or most RGP materials are made of fluorosilicone acrylate, so these statements are surprising to me given that Clear Care says it's compatible with all RGP lenses. Is it okay to use Clear Care with these lenses?
2) A question about the use of tap water with RGP lenses: I use Boston Advance solutions, and the instructions that come with the cleaner recommend rinsing the lenses with tap water after cleaning (but priot to disinfection). They also recommend rinsing the lens case with tap water.
I've followed these instructions for years but have recently read conflicting reports about whether this protocol would put me at risk for acanthamoeba keratitis. Some people, it seems, think that the quality of tap water has decreased recently and that tap water shouldn't be used to rinse RGP lenses or even to rinse the contact-lens case.
The only alternative, however, seems to be to rinse the lenses and case with a sterile saline solution (the disinfecting solution is much to viscous to serve as a rinse), which seems somewhat impractical. For one thing, it's hard to use enough saline solution to get the lens case clean. And that seems like quite a drawback because -- at least as I understand it -- acanthamoeba tends to flourish best when a biofilm starts to accumulate in the lens case, which occurs when the case isn't rinsed adequately. My intuition is that scrubbing with hot tap water would be more likely to prevent a biofilm than rinsing with a small amount of room-temperature saline solution.
Do you have any thoughts on the safety of using tap water and what other alternatives might exist?
3) I wear a plasma-treated RGP lens. Some websites advise against using abrasive cleaners like Boston Advance on such a lens. My optometrist, however, said that Boston Advance would be fine. Are there any downsides to using Boston Advance with such a lens?
Answer
Boston Advance with digital rubbing with its cleaner and rinsing with water is perfectly fine, so long as you soak lenses a minimum of 4-6 hours in the "soaking" solution afterwards.
As far as Clear Care solutions, MOST RGP contact lenses are ok to be used with these products but check with your eye doc in so far as the coated and "treated RGPs. The best answer is to check with the manufacturer of these rigid gas permeable lenses and ask what they recommend as best to use for their lenses.
