Renu Still a Sore Spot

March 5, 2007, 12:00AM. By Jane Mundy

Auborn, NH"I wore contact lenses for 20 years and never had a problem - until I used ReNu," says Susan H." I even slept in them. It seems pretty odd that this nasty incident happened just after I used ReNu with MoistureLoc."

"I always used the same contact lens solution, until I visited my sister in Washington DC and couldn't find my usual brand. I picked up a bottle of ReNu with MoistureLoc and used it a few times; this was sometime in September, 2004. When I got home about a week later and went to work, my right eye felt irritated. I came home and took my contact lenses out. The next morning it was still sore so I wore my glasses. I couldn't decide whether to see my optometrist or my regular doctor - I opted for the former. She examined my eye, saw the irritation and said we might have caught it in time. She gave me some drops to keep my eye lubricated, I think it was saline, and I had to put them in every 15 minutes. But it wasn't getting any better.

By the next morning it was totally worse - there was a sharp pain in my eye and it was very sensitive to light. I had no idea what it could be - this was way before the recall. I had an opaque patch in my eye like a big floater - a space I couldn't see from - and blurred vision. I went back to the doctor and this time she prescribed antibiotics. I suffered over the weekend and it was still bad on Monday.

I saw her yet again and she immediately referred me to an ophthalmologist who in turn referred me to a corneal specialist. I have to say that these folks were great - they all saw me that same day. And my medical insurance was awesome- usually it's a quagmire.

Anyway, the corneal specialist said it was too late to take a sample to see what particular bacteria were present because I was already on antibiotics. She saw me several times and finally diagnosed a divit on my cornea - like a little concave piece of my cornea was destroyed. Unfortunately it is in my sight line so my vision was impacted. To this day I can't read with that eye. Everything is blurry and when I look at light I see a glow like spider webs - I have distorted vision.

I recently went to a neural ophthalmologist. He said I was not a candidate for custom cornea transplant - the cornea in that area was too thin. But he did tell me there is a procedure called auto-graft and he described the procedure as a laser that cuts your cornea and turns it so the divit is out of the sight line. Doesn't sound pleasant and maybe more can go wrong than what I am dealing with now. That is worrisome - I don't know enough about it.

I have been wearing contacts for years and tried to wear them after this happened. I tried a soft lens, but all it did was conform to the divit - it didn't help my vision at all. Then I tried a hard lens for that eye but it was too uncomfortable. Wearing glasses are inconvenient but something I just had to get used to.

I think Bausch & Lomb should be responsible and reimburse folks for medical costs along with pain and suffering. Fortunately I can see in my left eye - some people had both eyes affected. I had a lot of pain but it wasn't nearly as bad as that poor woman whose photo is on your website. Just looking at her photo is painful and I am sure there were many others like her. She should be getting a lot of compensation."