Contact Lens Solution Yanked

A contact lens solution that federal officials say could lead to a rare but serious eye infection is being recalled. If left untreated, the infection could cost people their eyesight, the officials say.

Advanced Medical Optics is pulling its Complete MoisturePlus solution form store shelves. It's a cleanser for soft contact lenses that's also used to store them.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the Santa Ana, Calif., company is making the move as a precaution, after reports of acanthamoeba keratitis, which is caused by a parasite. The FDA says a link between the solution and the infection was identified by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention probe.

The solution appears to have led to infections in at least 138 patients since January 2005, the CDC says.

Consumers who wear soft contact lenses should stop using the solution, discard all partially-used or unopened bottles and replace their lenses and storage container, the FDA adds.

Dr. Robert Cykiert, an eye specialist and associate professor of ophthalmology at the NYU School of Medicine,

Cykiert said it appears to be a matter of an agent the solution fails to protect against, as opposed to the solution being contaminated.

Symptoms of acanthamoeba keratitis include pain in an eye, redness, blurry vision, light sensitivity.

"If you're using (the solution), stop using it," Cykiert stressed. "It's very important to throw out the solution, throw out your case, throw out your contact lenses. Don't use anything that's been in contact with the solution. Dump everything. Your contacts or case may be contaminated (by germs the solution didn't kill), so even if you switch to new solution, you may still have some (germs) left. So, you need to start over."

Cykiert said the germ involved in this is different from the one in a big contact lens recall by Bausch & Lomb about a year ago.

For more on the recall, click here.

For more on the infection, click here and here.