No Vet trip for the Dog

William cancelled the vet appointment and never went. Said "the truck is driving funny". Seemed to work good enough to get him to work. Hmmmm... Now how am I to get my dog treated? He needs medical care, but the vet is only open M-F when I am at work (no personal time yet). Perhaps I should find a new vet. Saturday or after hours.

Dammit, why didn't he just take Bob to his appointment? F***in' drunk.

All Renu Contact Lens Solution Users

Why the hell are you using Renu in the first place?

It's not a good cleaner and it has a high rate of allergic reactions (burning, stinging, redness, etc).

Better is Optifree.

Best is Clear Care or Aosept (if you can still find it).

Yes, switching from a MPS (multipurpose solution) to a peroxide-based one is a little scary. (There's more than one bottle! OMG!) Don't freak out. It's cool. Any peroxide based lens care system is much healthier for your lenses and eyes. Think, a MPS solution does most of it's cleaning in the first five minutes, and that is assuming that you rub lenses, which no one does 'cause they've all pushed the no-rub. The lenses sit for eight hours in 'dead' solution.

With a peroxide solution, your lenses are truly disinfected by using hydrogen peroxide. H2O2 kills. Period. Think of it as bleach for your eyes. It's the same stuff Kelly Bundy used on her hair. Yes, large amounts can cause irritation, but it is a diluted mixture. The bubbles agitate the surface of your lenses until all the peroxide has been neutralized. Think of rubbing your lenses for hours, imagine how smooth and clean the surface would feel. After you open the case in the morning (all peroxide solutions have to neutralize for eight hours - perfect excuse to get your daily recommended allowance of sleep) the solution has converted to 100% saline, perfect for rinsing and putting in your eyes. The platinum disk at the bottom of the case is what causes the bubbles. I'll spare you the chemical equation.

Peroxide is perfect for the new hydrogel lenses. "Night and Day", "Acuvue Advance Hydraclear" are just a few. If you use these lens brands, the coating is very sensitive. MPS solution particles actually become 'stuck' in the coating matrix and make the lenses feel slimy. Peroxide is a small molecule and does not get stuck, allowing for more comfort and better wetability.

The improved care for Clear Care also eliminates the "ring" that occurred with Aosept back in the day. The case used to fizz over and leave wet rings on the countertop. That's gone now.

If you keep your lenses for a quarter or longer, you will probably also want to use enzymes on them. The peroxide case is perfect, and you need only one tablet. With the MPS cases, you're either splitting tiny tablets or using twice as many as you need to.

If you do chose to switch to a peroxide based cleaner, I recommend calling your doctor first - Ciba/Novartis has done a huge push on Clear Care and most offices get monthly shipments of trial kits. Free. Try it before you run out and spend $7 on a bottle. Read the directions thoroughly. Do not put the peroxide in your eye (it burns). Change the disk after 3 months. Allow to clean for eight hours. Disguard the saline after you have applied your lenses in the morning. Clean your case occasionally. (OMG, people used to come in with the scrummiest cases and you've going to put that in your eye? EEyuch.) That's about it. Clear Care has one bottle, and AoSept has the peroxide bottle (red tip) and bottle of saline (white tip).

If you're using PMMA, RGP, or other specialty (Rose K, prosthetic, piggyback) lenses, this cleaner is not for you unfortunately. If you're wearing standard soft contacts (this includes monthly, quarterly, conventional, multifocal, toric, aphakic, coloured, WildEyes and derivatives, daily and extended wear) this is the solution your should be using.

Renu Sucks! It always has! Bausch&Lomb in general sucks. They got sued years back, you know. They sold yearly lenses and monthly lenses at the time. One yearly lens was $80, and a box of 4 (at the time) monthly lenses was about $30. It was the same flippin' lens in different packages. Yeah, they got sued big time. And they hate optometrists, preferring opthalmologists (surgeons).

As an added bonus, Clear Care also helps remove those stubborn reddish 'feminine stains' that happen once a month on accident. It's also great at removing pen marks on fabric. That they don't tell you on the box.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. But No One should be using Renu. In any circumstance.