# Why are contact lens solutions so expensive?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-contact-lens-solutions-so-expensive/80476>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 9, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-contact-lens-solutions-so-expensive/80476 "2001-09-09T03:46:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![ScaryJane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@ScaryJane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScaryJane)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-contact-lens-solutions-so-expensive/80476/21 "2015-06-06T17:37:55Z")

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In 1969 when I started wearing contact lenses, I had a container of salt tablets and a jug of distilled water that I used to mix up a little bottle of contact solution. I was supposed to make a fresh bottle every day, but it was a pain to keep shaking it until the salt tablet dissolved, so I used it for a week or so. I don’t know if the tablets were just salt or some special compound.

I also had a little heating unit that steamed the lenses every night. They didn’t know about protein build-up at the time.

That was probably very cheap, but the saline solution lacked some necessary ingredients they put in now.

Contacts were very expensive then ($300 in 1969 dollars) and I was just a kid. I was very worried about losing or breaking them. Not worried enough to mix up fresh solution every day, though.

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