Bowing to public pressure, Bausch & Lomb will take out ads today in the nation’s leading newspapers asking people not to use their eye contact solution ReNu with MoistureLoc until an investigation into its safety is completed. The unprecedented move comes as a result of findings that the contact lens solution contains a fungus, Fusarium, that can lead to blindness. Bausch & Lomb said it is voluntarily implementing the withdrawal, which does not cover other company products or ReNu with MoistureLoc made in factories outside the United States.
The company stopped shipments of MoistureLoc in the United States on Monday when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed it was scrutinizing 109 reports of Fusarium keratitis infections in patients in 17 states over the past 10 months.