Earlier this year, contact lens wearers around the world got a scare when news of an outbreak of an eye infection called fungal keratitis came out. This fungal eye infection can be treated relatively easily if caught early, but more established cases may lead to a need for a corneal transplant or worse, loss of the affected eye.
According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), as of May there had been 130 confirmed cases of fungal eye infections in the US in a one year period and of those cases, all but 5 were in contact lens wearers. 37 of these people have required corneal transplants. Bausch and Lombs ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens cleaning solution has been blamed by some for the outbreak, since 76% of contact lens wearers who contracted fungal keratitis used that particular solution, while it holds only a 10% market share in contact lens cleaning solutions. The product has since been pulled from the market while investigations continue. The consensus seems to be that the fungus is not present in the solution itself, but rather that it forms a film in contact lens cases that prevents disinfection of the case. The fungus itself, Fusarium, is...