Is this a contact lens conspiracy?

May 12, 2006 12:15 PM

I use Miraflow as my daily contact lens cleaner. I use either AOSept or AMO UltraCare as a disinfectant. All three products have completely disappeared from the shelves, in stores and online. What is going on, is anyone else experiencing this, and can anyone suggest an alternative for cleaners or disinfectants - even my eye doctor's doesn't know what's going on.
posted by The_Partridge_Family to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

Ciba Vision claims that a higher supply of their products is on the way.

On this specific product, my eye doctors said they no longer recommend the AOSept very often due to the complexity of using it, and that ClearCare is the newer, similar system that involves fewer steps but retains the advantages of AOSept.
posted by pekala at 12:21 PM on May 12, 2006

Do you think the contact lens eye fungus scare has anything to do with it?
posted by Mr. Gunn at 12:25 PM on May 12, 2006

The company shut down production in late 2005 when they found out that a non-sterile lubricant had been used on some of their production equipment. There's a blog post here where people are sharing availability information (and alternative product recommendations). Despite Novartis' press release, AoSept and Clear Care products are still nearly impossible to find; my local Target has been out for months now.
posted by junkbox at 12:49 PM on May 12, 2006

I use CIBA Vision's SoloCare (now SoloCare Aqua) and it has been very difficult to find for a few weeks now. I had no trouble getting ClearCare though, so I thought it was just the one product (from that company) that was tough to find.

CIBA vision is part of the Novartis empire though and there's a high likelihood that there are some business changes going on as the prescription company gets out of an OTC non-key area. But I haven't read anything about that - just speculation.
posted by mikel at 12:51 PM on May 12, 2006

Adding to junkbox ...

"The company cleaned the plant and in January resumed production of Clear Care and Aosept, its two most popular solutions. Those two solutions are making it to store shelves but often are getting sold out the day they arrive, says Steve Osbaldeston, president of Ciba Vision's global specialty lens and lens-care businesses.

No lens-care solutions produced when the lubricant was used were released for distribution, the company says. A small amount of an eye-drop product was released from the plant but was voluntarily recalled in November, the company says. A press release about the solution shortage was issued earlier this month.

'Our biggest challenge we have right now is just the pent-up demand of those products, in combination with the withdrawal of a competitor's product,' Mr. Osbaldeston says.

Ciba Vision also has resumed production of AQuify and hopes to have that product back on store shelves in May.

....A number of people are trying to sell Aosept, Clear Care and AQuify on eBay. There were 19 bids for one set of four 16-ounce bottles of Aosept running at a total price of $51 yesterday. Twelve-ounce bottles of Aosept typically retail for $7 or $8, according to the company."

[Wall Street Journal | April 25, 2006]

I've temporarily been using Alcon's Opti-One multipurpose solution.
posted by ericb at 2:40 PM on May 12, 2006

More people are using disposable lenses as well, which as far as I know need only the all-in-one solution.
posted by callmejay at 2:41 PM on May 12, 2006

(IANAD)
posted by callmejay at 2:42 PM on May 12, 2006

I just found AoSept at a local Giant Foods store, after failing to find it at two CVS stores, a Rite-Aid, and a Safeway. (I'm in the DC area.) I think I read somewhere that Costco and Wal-Mart are among the most likely to have it in stock.

And my understanding is that ClearCare and AoSept are more-or-less interchangable, as noted above.
posted by WestCoaster at 2:51 PM on May 12, 2006

I don't know about your specific brands, but I use OptiFree, and two weeks ago I tried to buy a new bottle. I went to three separate drug stores and, while all of them ordinarily carried several versions of OptiFree, all of them were out of every single version. They were, however, full of the non-retracted brands of ReNu (and generic store brands of various kinds). I'm fairly certain that what happened was a run on other brands of contact cleaners after the fungus scare. ReNu is a pretty major brand, and if everyone switched over at once and the stores weren't prepared, a temporary shortage of other brands is unsurprising.
posted by posadnitsa at 4:05 PM on May 12, 2006