This invention relates to disinfecting lenses, such as contact lenses. In particular, the invention relates to methods useful to quickly and effectively disinfect contact lenses.
Contact lenses should be periodically disinfected to protect the wearer's eyes from infection and to improve the wearer's comfort. It is often desirable that lens disinfecting be accomplished quickly, e.g., for the convenience of the wearer. However, conventional fast-acting disinfectants that are used with contact lenses have a high potential to cause eye irritation. A disinfectant which can be easily and effectively dissipated after use would be advantageous to reduce the chance of eye irritation.
Stoner U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,740 and Tanaka, et al Canadian Pat. No. 1,156,420 disclose contact lens disinfection methods in which a contact lens is submerged in a saline solution subjected to electrolysis to produce chlorine, and possibly hypochlorous acid, to disinfect the contact lens. Although these materials do provide effective lens disinfection, they tend to linger in the solution and may cause eye irritation. Clearly, a new disinfection method involving an effective disinfectant which is rapidly dissipated would be advantageous.