ALERT: INFECTION RISK TO CONTACT LENS WEARERS

Advanced Medical Optics Contact Lens Solution Causes Dangerous Eye Infection, Potential Vision Damage and Loss of Sight.

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Advanced Medical Optics (AMO) has reluctantly recalled its Complete MoisturePlus Multipurpose Solution contact lens cleaner after at least 46 patients contracted a unique form of bacterial eye infection called acanthamoeba keratitis. The company’s reluctance was puzzling, because its own press release admitted several years knowledge of the dangers.  The delay in recall was even more startling given the potential exposure of thousands of unsuspecting contact lens wearers to the painful effects of acanthamoeba keratitis, an eye infection caused by a parasite, which can cause permanent vision damage and even blindness.

Why would Advanced Medical Optics risk the public’s health by keeping a dangerous product like MoisturePlus on the market? We don’t know. What we do know is, sometimes big manufacturers cannot resist the temptation to put their profit before your health. Advanced Medical Optics Chief Financial Officer reports that MoisturePlus products earned the company $105.7 million in the fiscal year prior to the recall.

Fortunately for the victims of Advanced Medical Optics’ greed, our attorneys at Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley have 30 years experience going toe-to-toe with powerful corporations on product liability issues . . . and specific experience handling cases of keratitis infections.

Symptoms of acanthamoeba keratitis and microbial keratitis, a related corneal infection, are similar to other common bacterial eye infections, and to the fungal keratitis that was associated with recalled Bausch & Lomb lens cleaners. Acanthamoeba keratitis is especially threatening, however, because it is more difficult to treat, and can cause loss of sight. Contact lens wearers who have been using Advanced Medical Optics Complete MoisturePlus Multipurpose Solution should stop using the product immediately, discard it, and replace lenses and containers.

We encourage you to seek immediate treatment from a qualified eye care professional if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

• Eye pain
• Eye redness and/or soreness
• Hypersensitivity (increased or unusual sensitivity) to light
• Reduction in visual acuity (vision that is less clear or sharp)
• Temporary or, at the worst, permanent blindness

If you are diagnosed with acanthamoeba keratitis and have been using the recalled Advanced Medical Optics lens solution, the attorneys and professional staff at Searcy Denney can help you understand your rights and pursue justice on your behalf.   

Nearly as outrageous as Advanced Medical Optics’ willingness to jeopardize customers’ eyesight is the company’s pattern of secrecy about suspicions that, as it turns out, were first raised as early as 2004. That year, the acanthamoeba keratitis infection occurred in more than a dozen people, compared with a “normal” occurrence of one or two a year. An ophthalmologist at the University of Illinois in Chicago, Dr. Elmer Tu, and other doctors treated approximately 35 patients between May 2003 and September 2006, 55 percent of whom were infected after using Advanced Medical Optics Complete MoisturePlus Multipurpose Solution.

Evidence mounted, and by May 2007 a “voluntary” recall became inevitable when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning about acanthamoeba keratitis eye infection. But what did Advanced Medical Optics do? It blamed the victims! Standing behind its product even as the recall was announced, Advanced Medical Optics added insult to injury by characterizing the documented eye infection sufferers as contact lens wearers who “improperly store, disinfect or handle” their lenses.

If you or a loved one has suffered the devastating symptoms of acanthamoeba keratitis after using the recalled Advanced Medical Optics Complete MoisturePlus Multipurpose Solution, we would be pleased to provide you with a free, confidential evaluation of any potential claims. Please complete the case evaluation and Contact Form on this page, or telephone a member of our legal team at 1-800-780-8607.