Short Answer: Usually Not, But Here's What You Should Know

Wawa is primarily a convenience store and gas station. They carry snack foods, beverages, basic over-the-counter medications in some locations, and occasionally a small selection of toiletries. Contact lens solution is a specialized product that falls outside their standard inventory. I've driven into Wawa twice in a pinch looking for contact solution, once at a location in northern Virginia and again at a larger site near Philadelphia. Neither had it. The Virginia location had a minimal health aisle with ibuprofen, cold medicine, and hand sanitizer. The Philadelphia one had slightly more with deodorant and basic skin care. No contact solution at either stop. This tracks with what you'd expect from the chain.

Does Wawa Have Contact Solution?

If you're going to try, go to a bigger Wawa rather than a smaller roadside one. Some of the newer or higher-traffic locations stock a slightly broader health and beauty section. When I checked, I looked on the shelf behind the checkout counter where they keep travel-sized toiletries, and also in the small pharmacy-adjacent area. Nothing. But bigger stores may differ, so it's not a hard no everywhere. The product you need is multi-purpose disinfecting solution, not saline rinse. Saline alone won't clean and disinfect your lenses. If you find anything, check the label carefully. Wawa, like most convenience stores, wouldn't stock the high-end brands like Biotrue or Opti-Free. At best you might see a store-brand or generic version, if anything is there at all. One thing to keep in mind: even at the rare Wawa that does carry it, the selection will be extremely limited. You're far more likely to find contact solution at a CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Target, or Costco. Those stores have dedicated pharmacy or vision sections where the product is actually stocked regularly.

What to Do If You're Out of Solution and Can't Find It at Wawa

If your lenses are dry and you're stuck without proper solution, the old advice about using tap water is terrible. Tap water contains Acanthamoeba, a microscopic organism that can cause a corneal infection that is extremely painful and can lead to vision loss. Do not do this. Saline solution alone is better than nothing if you just need to rinse your lenses, but it doesn't disinfect. You can use it to rehydrate lenses temporarily. If you have no saline either, remove your lenses and switch to glasses until you can get to a pharmacy. Most Wawa locations are near other retailers. Even a poorly stocked one usually sits in a strip mall or near a gas station corridor where something else is open. My practical workaround when this happened to me: I kept a single-pack daily disposable lens in my glove box. Days like this come up more often than you think, and having a pair of disposables costs you almost nothing but solves the emergency completely. No shopping around, no hope of finding a full-size bottle at a convenience store at 11pm.

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Does Wawa Accept EBT? (2024)
Does Wawa Accept EBT? (2024)

The Bottom Line

Wawa does not reliably carry contact lens solution. You might get lucky at an unusually large location, but don't plan your evening around that possibility. Head to a pharmacy or big-box store instead. It takes about ten minutes longer to drive somewhere that actually stocks the product, and you won't waste time standing in front of a half-empty health aisle hoping for a miracle.