A woman has sued Bausch & Lomb Inc., alleging a contact lens solution the company manufactures was contaminated with a fungus that caused her to lose an eye.
Zoe Wade, 69, filed the lawsuit Tuesday. Several lawsuits against the company allege it failed to warn the public of a contamination problem in its Renu with MoistureLoc solution. Wade's is the first to claim it caused the loss of an eye.
Last month, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company stopped shipment of the solution when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was scrutinizing a number of Fusarium keratitis infections in Americans using the product. Major retailers pulled the solution from their shelves.
The infection causes pain, blurred vision and can lead to blindness.
Though health officials have found no direct link between MoistureLoc and the infection, many sufferers have reported using the brand.
Zoe Wade claims in the lawsuit, filed in Palm Beach County, that symptoms of the fungus arose a few weeks after she began using the product in January 2005. Seven months later, she said, her doctor recommended removing her left eye.
Her attorney, Chris Searcy, also sued Bausch & Lomb on Tuesday on behalf of a 46-year-old man who claims his vision has been impaired by the fungus, which he contracted after using the product.
Neither lawsuit seeks class action status like seven others filed last month in Miami by people who claim they used the Renu solution to clean their contacts and developed the fungus. A similar lawsuit has been filed in federal court in New York.
Meg Graham, spokeswoman for Bausch & Lomb, declined to address pending litigation, but said the company is working with the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration to determine "if there is indeed a relationship between these infections and any particular product."