I was on the forefront during the solution wars of 2005 to 2010. I was a huge advocate for one of the players and lectured internationally about the importance of using the right solution. I am still on the forefront of this debate, but my champion has changed. No longer do I battle for the best solution for patients’ lenses; I now champion no solution for our patients. With 95% of my contact lens-wearing patients using daily disposables, we have moved away from solutions almost entirely. We now experience only a few patients coming into the office each year who have a solution-related complication, and this used to be a weekly occurrence. In fact, the total number of contact lens complications is now almost nonexistent in our practice.
Multipurpose solutions (MPSs) had been reinventing themselves constantly to be cutting edge and to be compatible with the two-week and monthly lenses that were being released. However, not much has happened in the MPS space in the last five years. Since the last wave of new lenses was released into the market, we have not had a new MPS solution released in large scale in the United States. Although there are still advantages to MPSs in their wetting of the lens surface, we have converted nearly all of our existing extended-replacement patients to a hydrogen peroxide-based solution in an effort to reduce any chemical toxicity.
I encourage you to look at your care solution recommendations for your patients. Review whether you are prescribing a solution at all. And, if you are, make sure that it is biocompatible for a patient’s ocular surface and lens interaction.
READ more of my article here at Contact Lens Spectrum
