tap water for flushing eyes

[ms11369]

there's no damage from flushing eyes with water (squirt bottle) to get crud out,right? I know it's cheap and all but I'll only resort to it if it's safe. I love unisol but it ain't really cheap. Is tap water safe? Will it severely dry me out? will it redden me? Would mixing unisol/tap 50/50 be better? Thanks!

[hkgcomet]

there's no damage from flushing eyes with water (squirt bottle) to get crud out,right? I know it's cheap and all but I'll only resort to it if it's safe. I love unisol but it ain't really cheap. Is tap water safe? Will it severely dry me out? will it redden me? Would mixing unisol/tap 50/50 be better? Thanks!

It just depend on the quality of tap water.
I wash face and clean the residue on my eye every morning when wake up.
I wash face when I feel tired and having a oily face, it wet my eye also.
Seldom got immflammation for this.

But it must depend on your place, if it is somewhere poor place (3rd-world), no chlorineized tap water, then it may risky.

(Don't do it in a PUBLIC TOLIET XD)

[ms11369]

my TAP

I tried this morning..just plain water to flush..not bad..though it didn't flush whatever is in there out. I'll try to find a good price for good saline on amazon....eyes feel pretty nice and not dry after a unisol flush, for example. CVS doesn't always have it. Guess it's realy popular.

[gz9gjg]

Never, ever use plain tap water in your eyes!!!!!

Never, ever use plain tap water in your eyes!!!!!

There are various chemicals in tap water, like chlorine, that can cause irritation.

There are also various nasties in the water that can infect your eyes. The chlorine levels are too low to reliably kill everything off.

If you need to flush your eyes, get saline rinses, they come in disposable eye wash bottles from the drug store. Better yet, get the no-preservative vials of eye drops and use those to flush your eyes. You may need to try several to determine which one you like best.

[Lucy]

There will be no chlorine in well water, but think of all the other things that could be in there. I wouldn't do it.

[magoo]

I don't understand then, why is it okay to wash our faces - eyelids included - with tap water. In the shower or when washing my face water gets into my eyes no matter how tight I keep them closed. I certainly don't worry about getting an infection from my tap water.

Just confused.

[ms11369]

guess saline is my friend..it doesn't crust..which is probably nice. If anything it flushes any crusties deep in there OUT. What brand is really good but economical and free of preservatives? Anything cheaper than unisol??

[Guest]

Tap water makes my eyes feel horribly uncomfortable when it gets into my eyes... so for me, the saline solution wine out here for sure!

I get the saline they sell for rinsing contact lenses... it's inexpensive, and is easy to squirt a steady stream of it into my eye if I need to flush something out of there.

The only preservative-free stuff I've found here is in an aerosol container... the stream of saline it squirts out is rather forceful, so I haven't wanted to use it to flush out my eyes (I was worried it would be uncomfortable)... I find the preserved stuff is just in a regular squirt-type bottle, so I can control the forcefulness of the stream much easier.

[ms11369]

whats the name of that "forceful" brand. I had what looked like a straight thick hair (looked like something from my head) many months ago after I had my head shaved and didn't close my eyes well. It hurt like heck going in and it was a PAIN to take out. drops did NOTHING but barely move it. A strong squirt sent it flying out Might do the trick this time..either THAT or a few unisol bottles. Someone on here I think said they use it for cleaning the eyelids for bleph. Maybe unisol can serve yet another purpose!

[bernmee]

Shower heads contain bacteria...study

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/14...ria/index.html

Above is a report of the study.

aside from the above showers are somewhat iffy for our health. THe high temperature and the force of the water makes is easy for us to inhale the chlorine, which is not good for our lungs, you can goggle this and do a bit of reading.

If I wasn't living in a rental I would for sure get a filter attached to my shower head, but until that day....

B.

[magoo]

Bernmee, I saw that last night on the news! I just never imagined there could be a problem like this. Now I also wonder about the water faucets in the bathroom and kitchen, maybe they also can harbor bacteria. Seems as though they could also grow bacteria especially after the screens collect some gunk (biofilm, as described in the article)

I'm on my way out the door to get a new showerhead, and the faucet screens are soaking in vinegar!

[Guest]

whats the name of that "forceful" brand. I had what looked like a straight thick hair (looked like something from my head) many months ago after I had my head shaved and didn't close my eyes well. It hurt like heck going in and it was a PAIN to take out. drops did NOTHING but barely move it. A strong squirt sent it flying out Might do the trick this time..either THAT or a few unisol bottles. Someone on here I think said they use it for cleaning the eyelids for bleph. Maybe unisol can serve yet another purpose!

It was called "Lens Plus" and was made by Allergan (I'm in Canada... not sure if the name would be the same where you are... ). Anyhow, I was at the pharmacy today, and I noticed that the Lens Plus was no longer there... strange... maybe it was discontinued??

[ms11369]

I believe a lot of those aerosol salines have been pulled off shelves. That's why anyone who needs it buys from places like amazon. Not sure why they were pulled tho?

[mary kenny badami]

A few years ago I was unable to find locally the aerosol saline containers you are referring to, and so I had to settle for squeeze bottles.
Similarly, with a few months of warning, my asthma inhaler was changed to a different and less forceful propellant system.

The explanation in both cases, if I remember correctly, is that the U.S. government had decided to restrict the use of CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) as aerosol propellants.
This ruling was explained as an environmental issue, because it was feared that the widespread use of CFCs was contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.

p.s. When the aerosol containers were still around, my eye doc warned me against squirting the aerosol saline directly into my eye, saying that -- depending on the distance from my eye and the angle of the spray, the force had the potential to damage a person's eye, or at least cause discomfort . . . just as SAAG has said a few posts above this one.