The development of contact lens solutions dates to the late 1940s, following the production of rigid contact lenses manufactured from the oxygen-impermeable material polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). These early solutions were indicated for primarily enhanced wetting and it was not until the 1970s that the ‘science of contact lens solutions’ was truly born. Since this time, the development and optimisation of contact lens solutions, as well as testing and evaluation guidelines, have rapidly evolved to keep pace with the development of novel contact lens materials and our ever-growing appreciation of the role that contact lens care regimes play in contact lens success.