Annise asks: What, besides price, is the difference between the all in one multi-purpose contact solution that costs $8 and the Wal-Mart or other generic brand that costs $3?

The Right Brain’s eye-opening answer:

Contact lens cleaners are just like most other personal care products, Annise, you can find expensive name brands or cheaper generic brands. Sometimes there’s a lot of difference between the products and sometimes the formulas are so similar that a regular person would never be able to tell the difference. But before we get into the specifics, let’s review the different types of contact lens solutions and what they do.

5 Types of Contact Lens Solutions

Contact lenses require frequent cleansing and disinfecting to prevent infections from bacteria and fungi. There are a number of products that can be used to cleanse, rinse, and store your lenses, just remember that different types of contacts (hard, soft, gas permeable) will require different types of solutions.

1. Multipurpose solution

This kind of solution performs several functions: it can be used to rinse, disinfect, clean, and store the lenses. The latest generation multipurpose products are effective against bacteria, fungi and an organism known as acanthamoeba that can form a tough to remove film on contacts. These products can actually condition lenses while they soak.

2. Saline solution

A simple salt solution that’s used to rinse the lens after they’re cleaned and before they’re inserted. Saline solutions are not disinfectants.

3. Daily cleaner

Daily cleansers are designed for quick, frequent use. They may not be sufficient to remove tough to clean films and so an enzymatic cleanser may be needed in addition.

4. Hydrogen peroxide solution

Peroxides are powerful disinfectants and are formulated in “one-step” and “two-step” products. When using “two-step” products, extreme care must be taken to fully neutralize the peroxide before putting the lens back in your eye or else you can damage your eye.

5. Enzymatic cleaner

This is a special cleanser designed to remove protein deposits. Unlike other lens care products, these are typically sold in tablet form and are dissolved prior use. (That’s because enzymes aren’t stable for very long when they’re diluted in water.)

Name brand or store brand

Ok, now that we’ve gotten covered the basics, let’s take a look at the ingredients in a brand name product like ReNu:

ReNu MultiPlus Multi Purpose Solution for Soft Contact Lenses, No Rub ($16 for 24 oz)

Hydranate Hydroxyalkylphosphonate , Poloxamine, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide, Boric Acid , Edetate Disodium, Sodium Borate, Sodium Chloride

Now let’s take a look at two cheaper drug store brand alternative:

Walgreens Multi-Purpose Solution for Soft Contact Lenses, No Rub ($9.49 for 24 oz)

Hydroxyalkyl Phosp , Boric Acid , Edetate Disodium , Polyoxyethylene Polyoxypropylene Block Copolymer, Sodium Borate , Sodium Chloride, Polyaminopropyl Biguanide

Walgreens Multi-Purpose Solution for Soft Contact Lenses, No Rub ($5.99 for 12 oz)

Polyquaternium-1, Sodium Citrate, Poloxamine, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Sodium Chloride, Borates, Mannitol, Edetate Disodium

Both drug store products are cheaper and have the SAME name. But notice that their ingredients are NOT the same. The first one is virtually identical to the ReNu product and so we’d expect these two products to perform very similarly. The second drug store product uses different ingredients than ReNu and may therefore perform differently.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Contact lens solutions are one type of product where you can find cheaper alternatives to expensive name brands. Just make sure you read the label carefully to make sure you’re getting a comparable product.

What do YOU think? Do you have a favorite low contact lens solution? Leave a comment and share your money saving secrets with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Source: Wikipedia, Drugstore.com