Circle Lens Care!

Why 'ello there beautiful!

It's a stormy kinda night, and I was thinking about circle lenses, because I'm starting a new job soon and I want to buy more (duh!), so in light of that, I thought I'd share my tips on contact lens care, for all you dolly eyed beauties out there! (And those of you who want an organic/natural alternative to the store bought stuff.)

I am an avid lover of all things organic and natural, especially if I can make it myself. I just love making everything I possibly can, including my contact solution, which doubles as eye drops, and triples as an antiseptic wound wash! I mean who doesn't love a product that multi-tasks? The reason I decided to start making my own lens solution is actually pretty crappy. Ready for a story? 

When I ordered my first pair of lenses, I decided to do it by the book, because I wasn't quite sure what i was getting into. I soaked my lenses in the store bought solution (I won't name the brand here, but I am so angry with them), and proceeded to try sticking my lenses in my eyes for the first time, ever in my life. I also used store bought eye drops to lubricate my eyes to assist with the process. Guess what happened? After at least 3 hours of struggling, and failing miserably I might add, to get my lenses in my eyes, my right eye became really red and sore. My wife, who HAS worn contacts in the past, told me I should give my eyes a rest and try again the next day. Upon waking the next day, I found that my right eye was infected. Badly. Yellow goo was leaking from it, my vision was blurry, it was extremely sore, and needless to say I was upset. There I was with a brand new pair of lovely circle lenses, and I couldn't even think about trying to put them on. I spent a decent portion of that day in pain, beating myself up for attempting to use solutions with words I can't even pronounce in them. I'd had a feeling it was gonna be a bad idea, and it was. My theory is that eyes are made up of salt and water, so that's probably the only thing they need to be safe and sterile. So, I took it upon myself to look up different home-made solutions, made one, and pretty much as soon as I put it in my eye, my infection cleared up. Great, is the power of nature, and boiling water  :p

 Here's my ridiculously simple recipe for a contact solution that is cheap to make, and wonderfully useful:

Ingredients & Things You'll Need
1 cup filtered water (or bottled water, or even tap water)
1 tsp. Sea Salt (NOT the iodized kind, that's a no-no)
1 bag of chamomile tea (or green tea if you prefer)
  And/Or 
1/2 tsp Organic Honey
a plastic container (to store your solution)
an eye dropper 
Contact lens case

Step 1- Boil your container, lens case, and eye dropper for about 30 minutes to get them clean and sterile. I tend not to use any soaps or bleaches of any kind, but if you'd like to, I love Dr. Bronner's Castille Soap. It rocks out loud.

Step 2- Clean the pot you just used, fill it with the cup of water (I use tap water for the most part, it doesn't seem to make any difference, but I've seen that many folks prefer filtered or distilled water), add your sea salt, and your bag of tea and/or honey. Again, boil for about 30 minutes.

Step 3- Take your newly created solution, and put it in your sterile container and some in your lens case, store it in your fridge along with your eye dropper, and that's it!

I like to change my solution every few days, and when I forget or haven't worn my lenses in a bit, I use vinegar instead of tea to make an extra clean environment for my lenses and cases (NOTE: DO NOT put the lenses in your eye with a vinegar solution! IT WILL BURN! Rinse them first with a regular tea, honey, and/or saltwater solution first). I'd also like to note that tea will stain your lenses a light brownish colour over time, and if that happens, just eliminate the tea bag the next few times you make a solution. The staining will come off if you don't use tea too often. Chamomile is a wonderful anti septic and astringent, which is the solution I used for that nasty infection I got. Honey is a natural antibacterial. I generally just do the sea salt and water solution and call it a day, but the tea or honey is very refreshing in the eyes, for those with sensitive peepers. Hope you find this useful, and enjoy!