Some local eye care professionals are following the lead of US retailers who have pulled a popular contact lens solution from the shelves, erring on the side of caution following international reports that the product may be linked to a rare fungal infection.
Palmdale Optical and Pearle Vision Optical are two local optical centres that sell Bausch and Lomb’s ReNu with MoistureLoc product. The latter has already taken the decision to discontinue selling the solution for now. A spokesperson for Palmdale Optical yesterday told the Bahama Journal that that company may very well follow suit.
According to optometric physician, Dr. Fendt Shearer, Pearle Vision recently received an email from Bausch and Lomb, the company that makes the contact cleaning solution, informing them of the condition and the problems surrounding it in the United States.
“I spoke to the staff members and the other doctors in this practice and we decided to pull the product off the shelves as a precaution,” Dr. Shearer said.
“And so we called our patients to let them know that if they are using it and if they have some concerns, to discontinue doing so.”
Dr. Shearer added that while “a fairly good amount” of his patients use the product, at last report, he nor his colleagues had received any reports of the infection, fungal keratitis.
Symptoms include redness, pain, tearing, blurred vision, a discharge, swelling or an increased sensitivity to light. Reports say an infection usually looks like a white spot on the clear coating over the dark part of your eye.
The infections were reportedly first spotted in China, but have now spread to 17 states in the US. So far in the U.S., more than 100 people have been diagnosed with the fungal eye infection that can lead to blindness.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has reported an analysis of the cases of 28 contact lens users, 26 of whom remembered what lens care product they used.
Twenty-one reported using ReNu brand products and five reported using a combination of ReNu and products manufactured by other companies.
“Based on the statistical analysis, this is a very small amount, but every case is important,” Dr. Shearer explained, “and we want to minimize this as much as possible.”
No definitive cause of the infection has been established but Bausch and Lomb is not taking any chances.
The company has voluntarily suspended shipments of the contact cleaning solution, while an investigation continues.
“This action is based simply on the statistical analysis of the small number of cases that has been reviewed to date,” the company said in a recent release to eye care professionals including those in The Bahamas.
“Both the CDC and the FDA have emphasized that no causal relationship between ReNu with MoistureLoc and these incidences of fungal keratitis have been found. However, we at Bausch and Lomb believe that every effort should be made in assisting with this investigation in order to quickly identify the root cause of these incidents.”
Seeking to further allay fears, the company has stressed that product from the lots of ReNu with MoistureLoc multi-purpose solution that were identified as being used by patients in Singapore, Hong Kong and the U.S. were tested and shown to be effective in killing both standard strains and clinical isolates of the fungus.
“Product samples collected from these markets were tested with a full panel of biocidal challenge organisms and chemical testing, including testing of component materials,” the release further notes.
ReNu is said to be the most popular product used by contact wearers. Some professionals say this is particularly due to it being a better product “in some cases” than those previously available on the market.
“You can get it easier that the other products. In my estimation, if you probably go in any pharmacy or food store, you would probably see Bausch and Lomb products and ReNu is one of their main products for contact lenses,” Dr. Shearer
In a letter to its pharmacists and retail partners like Nassau Agencies, the distributors of the product here in The Bahamas, Bausch and Lomb indicated that it is switching its advertising and program support to its ReNu MultiPlus product, one of its leading solutions for years.
Included in the letter forwarded to the Bahama Journal was a copy of an open letter to contact lens wearers from the company’s chairman, Ron Zarrella, that speaks to the recent issues surrounding the increased reports and emphasizes that contact lenses should be kept clean and safe.
“If you take care of your lenses, use your products properly, you should not have a problem,” said Dr. Shearer.
Eye care professionals say when cleaning and wearing contacts, wearers should not use cream soaps to clean the lenses as they can be transferred to the lenses.
Contact wearers are further advised to never put contact lenses in the mouth or moisten them with saliva, to not use tap water of homemade saline solutions and to never use contact that have not been prescribed by an eye doctor.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
