Contact Lens Cleaners Can Cause Eye Infections

Recent studies have found that certain lens cleaners for contacts are causing eye infections. People who wear contact lenses and use one-step multipurpose contact lens cleaners may be at more risk for the rare but serious eye infection.

Bausch & Lomb Inc. has permanently stopped the sale of one of their contact lens cleaners. Apparently the certain contact lens types of cleaner were causing a rare fungal infection that made users go blind.

Due to the severity of the side effect, Bausch & Lomb Inc. voluntarily pulled the contact lens cleaners from stores. They have advised the consumers to switch to their other lens cleaners for contacts that use a different chemical to kill the bacteria. Cases show that about eight people have had cornea transplants after their infection caused irreparable damage.

Those eight were among over 150 other Americans affected by the Bausch & Lomb Inc. contact lens cleaners. The cause, ReNu with MoistureLoc had been used by over five million people around the world. That number was about a sixth of the world’s contact lens wearers.


The FDA Steps In

Out of the millions of bottles of the contact lens cleaners, many of them are 2-ounce contact lens cleaners the company began offering as samples two years ago, when it first launched the product. It is such a critical issue that The Food and Drug Administration have advised consumers to trash any unused portion of their ReNu contact lens cleaners.

Possibly linked to the cause, researchers in Austria have studied the ability of various lens cleaners and storage solutions to kill the organism responsible for acanthamoeba keratitis. This organism is a severely difficult eye infection to treat. Characterized by severe eye pain and vision loss, the infection is quite serious.

Most reports of this infection occurred among contact lens wearers. The researchers found that certain multipurpose contact lens cleaners did not destroy the cyst of the organism. One-step 3% hydrogen peroxide cleaners did not work either. The two-step 0.6% contact lens cleaners were the only ones that eliminated the cyst.

This research does not prove that multipurpose lens cleaners for contacts are dangerous as there could be other factors besides the contact lens cleaners that come into play. Many factors center on hygiene. It is crucial to keep contact lens storage cases free of micro-organisms. The risk of infection decreases when contact lens wearers replace their storage cases frequently and follow other hygiene practices with 0.6% cleaners.