Florida’s Eyes Have It – The ReNu Infection

Florida may be leading the nation in the number of people complaining of experiencing eye problems as a result of using ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution. That is the word from the Miami Herald today.

Attorneys throughout the state are receiving calls from worried contact lens wearers who suspect that they may have the fungal infection that has been associated with the Bausch & Lomb product that was recently pulled from the market. Hopefully, many of the concerned users will be found free of the infection. However, any concerned person should immediately seek medical attention. Legal action can follow, if appropriate, after proper evaluation and any necessary care is started. The best advice: protect your vision first and then worry about your rights.

Contact users suing over infection

It could have been dust, allergies, or just an irritation from her contact lenses of some sort.

Similar to potentially hundreds of other people experiencing similar symptoms, she put off seeing a doctor until things got unbearable, said Joel Magolnick, her attorney.

”She was having blurred vision, pain in her eyes, irritation, they were watering a lot,” Magolnick said. “First, she went to her primary care physician, then she went to an eye specialist, then she went to Bascom Palmer [Eye Institute], at which point they diagnosed her as having the Fusarium fungus.”

Wartmann, 57, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, is among the dozens of contact lens wearers in the United States left groping for glasses thanks to blurred vision and pain from Fusarium keratitis, a nasty and rare fungal infection. Health authorities say most of the victims in 17 states were using ReNu with MoistureLoc eye solution to cleanse their contacts.

Optometrists around the country say they’re inundated with calls from patients asking what to do. Florida has the highest number of cases in the country, with more than 50 reported so far.