"No Rub" Contact Lens Products -- Do they work?

For years now, I've been using those "no rub" contact lens products. There are a variety of lens cleaning solutions that promise to remove protein from the contacts and keep your all-important lenses as clean as they should be. And yet, I've never been totally satisfied. I've recently discovered that this is more of a marketing statement than anything else. "No rub" to me is simply a nonsense statement. After doing some investigation, I've extended the use of my lenses by a week or two at a minimum and I'm getting many more annoyance-free hours out of them daily.

I used to put my lenses on in the morning about 7 AM and by 6 PM or so I'd be dying to take them out. And, during the day, I'd have regular periods where I just couldn't see like I was used to. Blurry vision, lots of blinking and squinting, etc, would occur regularly. After my new routine, this does not occur any longer.

To determine whether this routine was actually making a difference, I put one set of contact lenses through the old "no rub" process and another similar set through the process below. Sure enough, by the end of the week, there was a considerable difference in my vision through the lenses that had been properly cleaned. Here's what I now do:

1) Take the lenses out and put a few drops of your contact lens solution on them and run with your finger tips on both sides of the lens, very carefully, taking about 10 - 15 seconds per side.

2) Insert the lens into your lens holder cup and fill with solution. Allow to stand overnight.

3) Remove the lens in the morning and put in the palm of your hand. Apply a small amount of saline solution such as the excellent product "Unisol 4" by Alcon Laboratories. Now, repeat that light rub that you gave the lens the night before, but this time with the clean saline.

4) Place the lens in your eye. Notice how fresh it feels and without sting, since the saline washes away the cleaning agent.

This is allergy season in Sedona, and the air is full of Juniper pollen and its the worst time for buildup on contact lenses. I have given my lenses a new lease on life. Try it!

Dave