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I have used Bausch and Lomb most of the time since first using contact lenses.   That amounts to 40+ years, never had an infection.  In late summer of '05 I purchased   Moistureloc from Bausch and did think this would be a good product....after using about 6 weeks began to experiance pain in my left eye.  I considered it must be a faulty lens so removed it and put in another new one.  The situation continued....about 7 or so days later the pain was so extreme that I went to my dr.  He thought at the time it was an ulcar, so treated it as such for 5 days... it worstened so he called in a cornea specilest... he sent me to a hospital near our home that had an excellent eye dept.  After scalping the eye and putting into a petri dish to see if it would grow in the dish (it did, very unusual) they determined what type of fungus it was.  The treatments for all of this was very lengthly... took over 3 months of my life laying in bed so that I could put drops in the eye every hour and half hour.  The pain was awful, but I did follow their instructions to the letter... and it did save my eye.  I have a scar on the cornea... I need to see the dr.'s every 6 weeks or so to make sure it does not return... this has made a big difference in how I preceive my eye care.... they do wish for me to discontinue contacts... however, I see so much better with them, glasses are a real chore for and it limits my vision.  I am hopeing for the best and am ever grateful for the good care my dr's provided me.

Last edited by doxielover101 (2006-05-27 09:52:12)

Hello KJ,

I was curious to know if they officially diagnosed you with fusarium keratitis?  I think that is what's going to be my biggest problem in trying to prove Bausch & Lomb are responsible.  I had gone to my family doctor originally who diagnosed me as having pink eye.  When it didn't clear up I was seen again by my doctor who prescribed different antibiotics.  Still after it not clearing up I went and seen the opthamologist who said it was keratitis but never performed any lab work.  At that time it was clearing up but I had scarring left.

Also have you signed with a lawyer yet?  There are a few who are trying cases seperately and then there are those that are forming class actions.  I would think class action lawsuits take longer and in the end you get less but I could be wrong.

I also had a wide spectrum of diagnosis.  It started with regular pink eye, then was Fusarium Keratitis for about two months, then last they blamed it on some sort of ameoba problem.  They said it probably came from swimming.  Here's the kicker.  It was end of May in 05 and I had done nothing to get it.  No swimming or anything like that.  So when I saw this stuff start to come out it immediately hit me that this was the cause of my problems.  I had only used this solution for about three months too, thats the sad part.  I bought it for allergy season for the moisturizing aspect.  So KJ, I understand perfectly what you went through.  I had countless visits, tons of medications, and still at this point need a corneal transplant.  I walk around everyday half blind.  The pain was unbearable and ridiculous, I looked ridiculous and it pretty much ended a job I had in sales last summer.  I also threw everything away as they told me to not wear contacts ever again.  I find this to be the only possible way that I got this infection and it took over three months to kill it off.  Nothing really seemed to work.  Did anyone else get to experience them scraping your eyeball with a scalpel for cultures?  That was horrible and left me in a ton of pain.  Im in with Parker and Waichman at this point and honestly I think that is the right decision.  The doctors involved with all of us seem to have been just guessing all along and the product is the only logical cause.  A class action is probably the best course of action.  We are all in this together and I hope the outcome does us justice and fixes my eyesight and yours above all else!!

Mollimizz, you really need to get to a clinic or something now I would imagine.  There shouldnt be blood in your contacts.  I think you might have more than this infection.  This infection is horrible in it symptoms and I had it full blown and now am pretty blind in one eye.  But I never had any bleeding, not even when they scraped me with a scalpel.

Kit Kat, I'm beginning to think it's not only the company but also the lawyer's that want to screw people over.  I have had an attorney for almost 2 months now and they realized that I wasn't harmed enough for their liking so they dropped me.  They think I would have little compensation so in otherwords it's not enough money for them.

Also let me add that I recieved a phone call from Bausch and Lomb personally wanting information frm me.  I was told by a member here as well as a few family members that I shouldn't give out any info.  So please if anyone else recieves a call from them either hang up or tell them your lawyer will get back to them with the info.

So has anyone made any progress at all on this at this point?  Just wondering where everyone stands.  I assume it is going to take a really long time but we shall see I suppose.  I personally cant wait to get the surgery on my eye and be able to see well again!!

Another link to a story except this one makes me mad!!!
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4008976.html

Ahead of the Bell: Bausch & Lomb Gains


© 2006 The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Shares of Bausch & Lomb Inc. gained in premarket trading Wednesday after an American Medical Association study found most patients suffering from a fungal eye infection thought to be caused by the company's ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution practiced poor contact lens hygiene, such as sleeping with lenses on or wearing expired lenses.

Public health authorities have been investigating a correlation between the ReNu solution and an eye infection called fusarium keratitis. The company suspended shipments of ReNu with MoistureLoc in April and recalled the product in May as a high percentage of fusarium keratitis sufferers reported using the solution.

Bausch & Lomb shares closed Tuesday at $47.41, down 17.5 percent since the company suspended ReNu shipments on April 10, when a Food and Drug Administration first issued a warning about the infections.

The study, published Wednesday in a Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded 81.8 percent of fusarium keratitis sufferers who used ReNu with MoistureLoc practiced poor contact lens hygiene. The study found 43.9 percent of patients wore expired lenses and 19.7 percent of patients wore daily-wear lenses overnight.

The study appears to support the company's stance that the fungal infection is caused by poor lens care and hygiene. But in an interview, BMO Capital Markets analyst Joanne Wuensch called the results "neutral news."

"It's not going to bring the product back," Wuensch said. "This was sort of something Bausch and Lomb was saying all along ... This solution was not robust enough to fight off poor hygiene."

The results may, however, help Bausch & Lomb in the litigation swirling around the issue, she said. The Rochester, N.Y., company has been hit with a spate of lawsuits over the product recall.

Bausch & Lomb shares rose $1.90, or 4 percent, to $49.31 in premarket trading on the INET electronic exchange.

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I would like to know their definition of poor contact lens hygiene.  No matter how clean and anal people were B&L is always going to use that as a defense.  They have made contacts that are FDA approved to be worn overnight so what is the point of purchasing them if we are going to be flamed and degraded for wearing them overnight?

Last edited by ouchmyeyehurts (2006-06-28 15:34:45)

Out of all the articles I have read this one is the worst!  Bausch and Lomb are now denying their product is responsible.  Then the statement about this lawsuit will be in court for years is absurd!  I don't understand why these big time companies have to draw out litigation.  Is it because the longer they stall the better they do off?  They must be ignorant because this lady is not suing for a whole lot and you would think they would pay the chump change for her to just go away.




http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-17/1152353127302570.xml&coll=3&thispage=1



Ocular troubles lead to lawsuit
Saturday, July 08, 2006
By Scott Hagen
shagen@citpat.com -- 768-4929
Gina Macchia wears sunglasses often, even on cloudy days, to hide the scar in her right eye.

She has undergone two cornea transplants, spent thousands of dollars for medicine, missed months from work and still can barely see out of her right eye. Now the Jackson woman is suing the eye-care company Bausch and Lomb.

She claims a contact-lens solution the company produced spread a rare eye fungus. Macchia is one of about 100 people nationwide who suffered from the fungus fusarium, and is a possible victim of a link between a specific eye solution and the rare fungus.

That's why I wear sunglasses," she said. "I get tired of people asking why my eye looks so weird."

Bausch and Lomb denies responsibility for what happened. The company has answered the Jackson County Circuit Court lawsuit with a demand for a jury trial and wants the lawsuit moved into federal court.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after an investigation, concluded a possible link with other sufferers of fusarium and the contact solution ReNu with MoistureLoc, the solution Macchia said she used for the first time in November.

It started with a sample from her doctor. She was not discriminating when it came to the solution she used to rinse her soft contacts every night before bed. So, not noticing a change with the MoistureLoc solution in a new bag of contacts, she stuck with the product.

On Jan. 31 she was working at A.G. Edwards as a broker's assistant when she felt something in her eye. She took out her contacts when she got home that afternoon. That night she woke up well before the alarm clock rang to the feeling of needles poking her right eye, she said.

The doctor prescribed eye drops, standard for the redness and irritation she was experiencing. Her eye felt better for a few days, but the pain returned.

Eye doctors confirmed it was a fungal infection. The next round of treatment forced Macchia to put drops in her eyes every 15 minutes while she was awake during the day, and every hour at night.

She slept sitting down so she could wake up throughout the night.

The drops didn't work. The infection continued to spread. Doctors told her she would need a cornea transplant. On March 8, surgeons removed her cornea and her lens behind her pupil, and stitched on a cornea from an organ donor.

The eye drops she continued to use were so toxic that it ate away at her new cornea, she said. On April 17, surgeons performed the same surgery again.

Today, Macchia doesn't know if she will need another transplant, or if she will see out of her right eye again.

In a statement, Bausch and Lomb said an investigation concluded there was no product tampering or sterility compromise in the making or distributing the MoistureLoc solution, which generated $100 million in sales for the company in 2005.

"That leads us to conclude that some aspect of the MoistureLoc formula may be increasing the relative risk of fusarium infection in unusual circumstances," company Chairman and CEO Ronald L. Zarrella said in a statement.

"We are continuing to investigate this link, but in the meantime, we're taking the most responsible action in the interests of our customers by discontinuing the MoistureLoc formula."

A Bausch and Lomb spokesman declined to disclose how many other lawsuits have been filed against the company.

Bausch and Lomb pulled the product from shelves in Asia late last year. Philip C. Curtis, Macchia's attorney, said the company should have warned consumers of the possible problems or pulled it from shelves completely.

In May, the company completely recalled the product. "They didn't take action earlier to notify consumers," Curtis said.

Macchia's lawsuit, barring a settlement, likely will be in the courts for years. It asks for damages exceeding $25,000.

Macchia estimates she has already racked up $100,000 in medical bills in the last four months.

Last edited by ouchmyeyehurts (2006-07-09 20:35:27)

floridaeyes, I was jumped all over when I had stated I sometimes wear my contacts to bed but the only reason is because I wear the O2 Optix which are approved for overnight wear.  So even though I'm using a product that was FDA approved I'm the dirty one.  I guess they assumed I never took my contacts out and cleaned them.  Also I didn't sleep in them all the time.  These are just assumptions and B&L are going to have to come up with more then that.

I also think B&L might be using the wear & care program to prove that contact lenses wearers are not up to par on contact lens cleaning.  They probably think for every person who filled out info for the wear & care program have poor hygiene.

Well that is just my point! People are so quick to point the finger and that is what B&L likes.  I say I wear my contacts overnight then people inturn say I caused the problem by wearing them overnight.  I then come back and ask what if my contacts were approved for overnight usage?  Then they come back and say that I still shouldn't wear them at night and I most likely contributed to the problem.  Then I tell them that when I got the infection I wasn't wearing the overnight connects and was just using normal daily contacts.  They then say oh well maybe B&L had a part. 

B&L were fully agreeing their product had something to do with the infections and they even got right down to the very ingrediant but now that people want to point fingers and ASSUME stuff, B&L is denying they had any involvement.

Yes, B&L acknowledged their product was the source thus removing it permanently from the shelves but now because of all the gossip about contact lens wearers having bad hygiene B&L now are denying responsibility.

hi melnic, i totally agree with you, we should be compensated for what we have endured. i am lucky as well, i have scarring in my left eye due to 6 ulcers but lucky for me it is not directly on my cornea. i do have more problems in the morning than any other time of the day. for whatever reason, i now have dry eye so i need drops four times a day to keep them moist or else i get severe burning and can not see for about 3 minutes. it happened the first time when i was driving!!!!!!!! i was able to pull over very fast but it was so scarey.  being a restaurant manager..glasses is so inconvienient, fogging up constantly etc..i cant stand it!! this whole episode has made so many changes in my life. i know i am lucky, i am not blind or need a cornea transplant but i feel i have and will continue to suffer , due to B&L!  i just wish this didnt take so long, it could be years before anything is final! well take care and at least we have a place to vent and talk to others in our same predictament.