Buying heat units for contact lenses

Is there any place that still sells heating units for contact lenses?
I have searched the Web, but all I found was:

http://www.contactlenses.co.uk/educa...ction_unit.htm

Surely I don't have to purchase these from another country! I also
found an older unit being sold on eBay, but I don't know if it's a good
idea to purchase older models. When I asked the nurse at my local eye
care center about heat disinfection, she said they didn't have any
units, but she didn't say, "Oh, those went away with the 8-track tape
player!" Thanks for any help.

OK, I'll answer my own post, LOL!! This seems to be one:

http://www.eartheyes.cc/

Interestingly enough, I found this page right away with a non-Google
search engine, but could not find it at all with Google. I guess
Google isn't the be-all and end-all of searching then. My illusions
are shattered!

The nurse was right!! I haven't sold one of those things for years. Why
would you want one? They kill bugs well, but they also bake the protein on
to your lenses. Today's multipurpose solutions are pretty good, and
reactions to the preservatives are very rare indeed.

Dom


<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Is there any place that still sells heating units for contact lenses?
> I have searched the Web, but all I found was:
>
> http://www.contactlenses.co.uk/educa...ction_unit.htm
>
> Surely I don't have to purchase these from another country! I also
> found an older unit being sold on eBay, but I don't know if it's a good
> idea to purchase older models. When I asked the nurse at my local eye
> care center about heat disinfection, she said they didn't have any
> units, but she didn't say, "Oh, those went away with the 8-track tape
> player!" Thanks for any help.
>

I want one because thermal disinfection is the most effective at
killing germs and because it doesn't involve weird chemicals. I've
done a lot of searching on the Internet and read articles that suggest
that the preservatives in the solutions may have negative long-term
effects on one's eyes. I'm not thrilled about the baking on of
proteins, but I figure as long as I clean my lenses real well before
disinfecting, it shouldn't be a huge issue. Besides, I can always buy
a new pair of contacts, but not a new pair of eyes.

Mike Tyner wrote:

> Baked proteins are much more allergenic than modern soaking
solutions.
> Heating (also oxygen and UV) converts your proteins so your body
recognizes
> them as foreign.
>
> Frequent replacement is better than enzyme cleaners.

Well, I didn't say that thermal disinfection is a perfect solution,
but even with its drawbacks it still seems to be the best overall.
Here's a relevant article:

http://www.optometry.co.uk/articles/...2/Woodward.pdf

An important quote from the article:

"It would thus seem that thermal disinfection using non-preserved
saline is still the only system which has no adverse effect on ocular
tissue."

Maybe it's really best not to wear contacts at all!

In article <(E-Mail Removed) .com>,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Well, I didn't say that thermal disinfection is a perfect solution,
> but even with its drawbacks it still seems to be the best overall.

I don't think so. It's an obsolete solution in the 21 st century,
considering that the plastics used today are rather different than those
used in the 1960's and 1970's---the last time heat disinfection was
commonly used. That's 40 year's ago!

> Here's a relevant article:
>
> http://www.optometry.co.uk/articles/...2/Woodward.pdf
>
> An important quote from the article:
>
> "It would thus seem that thermal disinfection using non-preserved
> saline is still the only system which has no adverse effect on ocular
> tissue."

And that is clearly untrue. Heat-altered protein can indeed cause
adverse effects on ocular tissue.
>
> Maybe it's really best not to wear contacts at all!

Or silicone hydrogels that you keep in for a week or two or four, and
then toss them.

Or hydrogen peroxide disinfection which can leave no chemical residue.

Or ozone/UV disinfection which leaves no chemical residue (but may
sometimes denature the protein as Dr. MT wrote.)

But I have a couple of unused thermal disinfection units left. I'm
saving them as antiques. Might be worth something one day.

LB, O.D.

LarryDoc wrote:
> > Well, I didn't say that thermal disinfection is a perfect solution,
> > but even with its drawbacks it still seems to be the best overall.
>
> I don't think so. It's an obsolete solution in the 21 st century,
> considering that the plastics used today are rather different than
those
> used in the 1960's and 1970's---the last time heat disinfection was
> commonly used. That's 40 year's ago!

>From the articles I've read, it does seem to kill germs the best,
however.

> > "It would thus seem that thermal disinfection using non-preserved
> > saline is still the only system which has no adverse effect on
ocular
> > tissue."
>
> And that is clearly untrue. Heat-altered protein can indeed cause
> adverse effects on ocular tissue.

I guess it depends on what he means by "adverse effect on ocular
tissue." So the real question is this: Which "adverse" effect is
worse--that caused by the thermal disinfection or that caused by the
chemical disinfection?

> But I have a couple of unused thermal disinfection units left. I'm
> saving them as antiques. Might be worth something one day.

Maybe you'll get to show them off on the Oprah Winfrey show one day!!
Then again, I guess her show won't be around that long.