I was in a small town somewhere in Lembang, Indonesia last week and I was desperately searching for an apotek (pharmacy) or toko optik (optical shop) that sells contact lens cleaning solution. By small town, I mean really small. As in, shops specialising in pet supplies or donuts were nary in sight.
I went from one apotek to another in vain, getting more and more frustrated with each one. The only toko optik that I found had closed for the day even though it was a good one hour before their usual closing time. That’s when I went from desperate to frantic…
You see, the bag that held my contact lens all-in-one solution, contact lens case, and my eye glasses (‘spectacles’ to my Malaysian readers) was somehow left behind in Jakarta, a good 3-hour drive from the town where I was in. I had my Bausch & Lomb lubricating eye drops with me but that was about it. I briefly considered chucking my contact lenses into the garbage bin rather than risk contracting an eye infection (assuming no contact lens solution was to be had)…but quickly changed my mind, thinking of how my astigmatism would seriously impair my photography vision.
I didn’t have the luxury of scouring the entire town either, as I was in a bus with 20 other people who were all tired and hungry.
Finally, just when I was about to give up, the kindly shopkeeper of a small apotek suggested a feasible solution for me — sterile saline solution!
“‘Bu, buat darurat, yang ini, bisa dipakai jugak.” (Ma’am, for emergencies, this can also be used.)
That sure made sense. The saline solution might not be able to remove protein buildup, but it would be good enough to tide me over until I could resume my search in Bandung the next day.
The joyful chorus of ‘Hallelujah’ rang through my head as I hurried agreed to the purchase — Rp10,000 for a 500ml plastic bottle. Roughly, less than RM3 or USD1.
I clambered back into my seat in the bus, grinning from ear to ear, proudly showing off my find. The guy sitting behind me — incidentally a medical doctor — laughed out loud when he saw it — 0.9% sodium chloride intravenous infusion! It was still saline solution, it was still sterile…the only difference was that it came in packaging meant for an IV (Malaysia: ‘drip’; Philippines: ‘dextrose’)!
Buat darurat indeed! :D
Really? That’s wonderful!
grabe! what an ingenious idea! galing! at least meron ka nang bottle of “dextrose”. he! he! [kami naman sa house, we call that NSS.]
avril: you have no idea how RELIEVED i was!
kg: i had to leave the bottle behind because i was afraid it would leak in my bag. it would have made an interesting souvenir ;)
MIMI, saline solution is also to replace blood transfusions.
Yan ang gamit ng mga Jehovah’s Witnesses, kasi nga ayaw namin ng blood transfusion. Thats is safer, than the blood itself,walang risk na hepa or aids pati, and hindi pa nakaka violate ng God’s laws(re Acts 15:29)
Kaya,happy to know another use. Dami nyan…Last you for a year, hehe
ohh that’s interesting. i’ve heard about the prohibition on blood transfusions. but i didn’t know saline solution is used as its replacement. you learn something new everyday :)
Hahaha…you champion la. First time I heard someone using IV saline for their contact lens.
i have some saline solution for contact lenses at home. it’s exactly the same composition as the one for IV. it’s just the packaging that’s different. but yeah, the thought of using saline for IV is hilarious :D
apotek = apotheek in dutch (read: apoteyk)
i learned a few things reading this post too!
odette: it’s spelled ‘apotek’ but pronounced as ‘apotik’. definitely inherited from the dutch!
tnx po sa mga idea….tsk tsk i read awake1/08/2000
supplements for my theses…