Bausch and Lomb’s solution criticised in report

Bausch and Lomb’s Renu with MoistureLoc solution has been critised in a report in the November issue of Archives and Opthalmology, a Jama/archive journal.

The product, which contains an antimicrobial agent not found in other solutions, was implicated in the Fusarium keratitis eye infection epidemic that occurred between 2004 and 2006.

November’s issue of Archives of Opthalmology also adds that prolonged temperature elevation reduces antifungal activity of the contact lens solution.

As a result of the outbreak, 154 confirmed cases of the infection were identified in the US, with the US Food and Drug Administration citing the company for inadequate temperature control in the solution’s production, storage and transport.

The article’s announcement follows experiments by John Bullock and colleagues at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Ohio, which saw the studying of six solutions stored at room temperature over four weeks – in an attempt to see what effect temperatures might have on the growth of the Fusarium fungus.

After the 60-degree storage, Renu with MoistureLoc demonstrated the greatest decline in anti-fungal activity.

The team that conducted the experiment said: “The precise temperature, duration of exposure to elevated temperature and extent of temperature fluctuation that may diminish the antimicrobial activity of a particular contact lens solution is not known, and thus, additional studies may be warranted.”