edetate disodium?

[scott1]

This preservative is used in most saline solutions and eyedrops, including the saline I used for years, Bausch & Lomb sensitive eyes plus. Is this the same stuff as EDTA? I've seen them mentioned briefly in these forums but there wasn't much info.
The B&L saline, along with Renu, also contain polyaminopropyl biguanide.
How bad are these preservatives? I've put quite a bit of them in my eyes over the years and am wondering if it could be the cause of my dryness.

[Rebecca Petris]

I think it's actually used as a preservative buffer which is why you see it in a lot of things regardless of what preservative is in them.

This link says edetate disodium can be described as "the disodium salt of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)"

[neil0502]

Jumping back in for a moment....

See: http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1725436

[emphasis added]

Résumé / Abstract
We investigated the effects of instilling 13 commonly used preservatives on the murine cornea in vivo. Due to the instillation of preservatives, micro-lesions are formed on the cornea and can be selectively marked by fluorescein. The sum of the resulting fluorescent areas was measured using an episcopic microscope coupled to an image processing system. All the tested preservatives proved to be well-tolerated by the eye at commonly used concentrations. However, in some cases, increased concentrations of preservatives or combinations resulted in significant increase of the amount of corneal damage. With increasing the concentration, corneal lesion increased the most in the case of cetylpyridinium. While a combination of chlorobutanol 0.5% and phenylethylalcohol 0.5% did not result in an increase in corneal damage (when compared to the use of each separately), the associations of thiomersal 0.02% and phenylethylalcohol 0.4% on one hand and of edetate disodium (EDTA) 0.1% and benzalkonium 0.01% on the other, resulted in significant increases in the amount of corneal damage. However, in none of the tested combinations, the increase in the observed damage exceed the limit of ocular intolerance we had defined beforehand: thus, they were all deemed relatively well-tolerated.

"The increase in observed damage didn't exceed the 'limit of ocular intolerance we had defined beforehand."

I'll take no "observed damage" wherever and whenever I can find it. Your mileage may vary.

[lou]

I've had severe reactions to both thiomersal and EDTA in eyedrops i've used over the past 15 years. One of them was actually meant to heal my cornea.
I don't react to BAK in the same way: usually superficial keratitis after some weeks. Conclusion based on my experience: exercise caution when using preservatives and avoid them as much as possible.