Removing fungus with enzymes

[pirius]

I heard from one guy who cleans lenses professionally that the widely used methods such as hydrogen peroxide, ammonia, etc. are actually harmful because rather than removing fungus they can permanently fix in on the glass surface. He used enzymes that he got from some laboratory. The idea was that the enzymes simply digest fungus, leaving no traces.

So I tried the same approach with one infected lens that I bought recently. Since I don't have access to any laboratory facilities I used lens cleaner called "Purosol Optical". It is basically a cocktail of various enzymes that process all organic stuff - carbs, fat and proteins. The glass was heavily covered with fungus that grew from a center spot like a spider web. I let it soak in Purosol Optical for about 30 minutes. By that time the fungus simply came off the glass by itself and was floating in the solution. I didn't even have to rub it - simply wiped out the solution and the glass turned out perfectly clean, no traces whatsoever. Of course I was lucky that the coating was not permanently etched by the fungus.

I don't know how concentrated Purosol Optical is. I've seen some listings on eBay for laboratory grade enzymes that could work even better but those are expensive and you'd need to buy 3 different types to take care of proteins, carbs and fats that fungus is constituted of.

Anyhow, this is my success story!

[Spotmatic]

Wouldn't the simplest solution be to just put the element in your mouth? Don't laugh, I've actually read in a magazine that this is a good method to get rid of fungus. After all, our saliva contains enzymes which will kill the fungus...

[pirius]

Hmm... That's an interesting idea, except that maybe later when you put up the lens for sale you'll have to add a note "cleaning... oops, biting marks on the glass" In such case I'd rather just spit on the lens.

[Sevo]

Enzymatic contact lens cleaning solution works fine on glass lenses as well, and is readily available in any drugstore, in concentrations safe for use under normal household conditions.

Personally I frequently use enzymes for ultrasonic degreasing (where water is the best solvent, as it has the highest cavitation energy of anything safe to use).

It should certainly clean fungus, but they are strange creatures, and I would not bet on enzymes sterilizing all of them, so I'd follow it up with the Zeiss recommended hydrogen peroxide/ammonia wash.

[Attila]

[Olivier]