View Single Post
  #23 (permalink)  
Old 03-26-2010, 01:03 PM
Knotlob Knotlob is offline
Contact Lenses Forum - Ph.D.
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: near Hamburg, Germany
Posts: 2,143
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by 3scompany View Post
How long do you suppose it would take for an entire shipment--say six boxes, in the box they're shipped in with the associated packing peanuts and whatnot--to freeze completely?

Now that it's late March this scenario is becoming less and less likely, but I'm just curious.
I don't know the answer to that, but some of the packages I received over the winter here in Northern Germany were pretty close to freezing. I guess the courier or postal distribution warehouses don't have much heating overnight and the delivery van cargo holds seem to be unheated. So if the package came in a jiffy bag or box with styropor beads, then it could freeze in maybe 4-6 hours if exposed to the wind and on a north facing doorstep with no sun.

Having said that, I haven't seen any warnings in the contact lens instructions that caution against freezing and I think Coopervision even said it was possible to reuse a dehydrated soft lens if it appeared rehydrated after soaking for an hour and then sterilising it.

I would be a little concerned that the water expanding to ice would damage the structure of the lens, though initially the solution will freeze out pure ice (pure water) leaving a more saline solution that has not yet frozen.

knotlob
Reply With Quote