Pittsburg, PAYou don't realize how precious your eyes are until something like this happens: "I woke up on Christmas Day of 2005 with a burning pain in my eye and couldn't open it so my son drove me to ER," says Doria J. As I was given a morphine drop, the doctor asked if I was using ReNu with MoistureLoc.
I had used Renu for more than a year and my eyes had never been a problem until now. I never experienced such intense pain before. The doctor at the hospital sent me home with antibiotics and advised me to see my eye doctor right away.
My ophthalmologist discovered a tear in my cornea and he treated me with more antibiotic eye drops. Of course I wasn't wearing my contact lenses anymore, and no more Renu. But my eye got progressively worse and he didn't know what else to do about it. At first he thought it was a bacterial infection.
He eventually sent me to the eye and ear hospital - a few months on. During this time, for two weeks I had to get up every hour, day and night, to put drops in my eyes and I had to get special meds for my eyes at the hospital. And it wasn't cheap. One Sunday evening I got a call from my doctor; he told me to come back to ER and they found out from my biopsy that it was a viral infection. They took a picture of my eye and I could see the scarring that went all the way to the back.
In the end, I was diagnosed with the fungal keratitis infection I ven had the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia call me. They were investigating Bausch& Lomb, the makers of Renu with MoistureLoc. I knew Renu was the cause when I first heard about it at the hospital - when the doctor asked if I had used Renu. And then I saw it on the news. Then everyone started telling me about it.
As for my prognosis: My ophthalmologist told me that I need a cornea transplant. I am closing my eye right now as I talk to you and I can feel a bump - an ulcer from the infection. And I lost two months of work. I couldn't drive or watch tv, couldn't read...it was horrible. Now I have a white scar on my eye that is quite visible. People say to me, 'Do you have something in your eye?'
To this day, I still have a scar around my eye that has caused blurred vision and sensitivity to light. I went back to the hospital this month for more checks and tests. I can no longer wear contacts and blurred vision is right in the center of my cornea.
Although the ER doctors didn't come right out and say that Renu was the cause, why would they have asked me in the first place? Even my pharmacist told me there are several cases in my area, all from Renu.
If you or a loved one has been affected by using ReNu with MoistureLoc, please send your complaint to a [ReNu with MoistureLoc lawyer who will evaluate your claim at no cost or obligation.