Does freezing adversely effect soft contact lenses?

February 16, 2007 6:14 AM

Does freezing adversely effect soft contact lenses?

My boyfriend wears CooperVision Encore Premium lenses. He ordered two boxes which were delivered to our home in Minnesota yesterday. They sat outside for about 12 hours and when we brought them in, they were frozen. Are they still OK to wear? Would the water content in the lenses themselves cause the lenses to be damaged?
After thawing overnight things look fine, but we haven't examined an actual lens. Should these just be returned, or will they be OK?

posted by Coffeemate to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

Best answer: This suggests you should chuck them (it says to keep them at room temperature), but before you do so double check the packaging for information, and if there's nothing there email Coopervision to check - [e-mail]. And point out to them that it might be a good idea to update their packaging with that information.
posted by edd at 6:36 AM on February 16, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks, edd! I emailed them and got this response:

Please allow your contact lenses to thaw naturally at room temperature. By allowing them to thaw naturally at room temperature, you will still be able to wear them and they will not be affected.

Should be good to go.
posted by Coffeemate at 7:42 AM on February 16, 2007 [1 favorite]

The opposite used to be true as well (15 years ago) -- I would occasionally forgot my solution when travelling, and being more afraid of sleeping with them than losing them, I left them out on their own. By morning they were hard little contact-crisps.

Rediculous, I know, but they re-hydrated perfectly.
posted by o2b at 9:36 AM on February 16, 2007