Still Sore from ReNu

Frederick, OK"I was so loyal to ReNu," says Cari Ripley," that I used no other contact lens solution for years. Now I had better teach my daughter how to apply my make-up because my vision is so damaged and I believe it is from Bausch & Lomb contact lens solution."

"My first mistake was that I went to a different eye doctor every year to have my vision tested, get new glasses and contacts. I am a teacher and don't get paid much of a salary, so I have to shop around. Back in 1999, an optician said there was some cloudiness on my cornea but he didn't seem too concerned and told me not to worry about it. I actually saw a smidgeon of cloudiness but thought it would just clear up. But it didn't.

By 2002 it had grown. I went to another optometrist and he said I was scary. He said that I had calluses all over my cornea and if they grow another 10 percent, I could be blind! They weren't on my pupil but scattered on my iris. In retrospect, if I had gone to the same optometrist, this problem might have been monitored.

That was a good weekend to have a 'pity party'. It was Valentine's day and I was terrified. My brother-in-law is an opthamologist, a retina surgeon, and he told me that I should get a second opinion. I saw several doctors at a teaching hospital. They all asked me the same question: how long had I been wearing contacts and using contact lens solution?

I had been using ReNu with MoistureLoc for many years, ever since I started wearing contacts lenses. My friend told me that I should just buy a generic brand because it was cheaper but I told her that I had to buy the best because I didn't want to mess around with my eyes. HA! Isn't that ironic.

I will never be able to wear contacts again and am no longer a candidate for laser surgery. My doctor told me that my eyes were so dry, they formed calluses.

The calluses are still there and I am still concerned. As well, I have terrible headaches and suffer from sensitivity to bright lights. For instance, in the summertime, if light is bouncing off water, I get a blinding headache.

I read about ReNu and the recalls by Bausch & Lomb in March, 2006. Shortly after that, I saw my doctor and he said my eye infection was because of the contact lens solution."

ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution, manufactured in the Greenville, SC plant, was voluntarily withdrawn from the market in the United States on April 13, 2006.

In May 2006, a Bausch & Lomb team met with Food & Drug Administration (FDA) officials to share information resulting from the company's internal investigation into cases of Fusarium keratitis, a fungal eye infection associated with ReNu with MoistureLoc.

The FDA states that most of the confirmed Fusarium cases have been associated with the ReNu with MoistureLoc.