A man in California filed a product liability lawsuit against Advanced Medical Optics, Inc., claiming the company’s recalled contact lens solution gave him a serious eye infection. Michael Connolly, 37, claims the company concealed information about the Complete Moisture Plus contact lens solution, and now he is left with vision loss and eye pain.

On November 21, 2006, Advanced Medical Optics recalled its contact lens cleaning solution Complete Moisture Plus because of a “production-line issue at its manufacturing plant in China.” Connolly said he has Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), a rare and painful eye infection.

According to the CDC, 58 percent of confirmed cases of the same infection used the Advanced Medical Optics contact lens product within a month of seeing symptoms of the disease. Thirty-nine percent used only Complete Moisture Plus solution. There have been 138 confirmed cases of Acanthamoeba keratitis since January 2005.

Sources: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Advanced Medical Optics Announces Voluntary Recall of 18 Lots of Complete® MoisturePLUS™ Contact Lens Care Products Distributed and Sold in the U.S.”, November 21, 2006; Associated Press, “Lawsuit Filed Against Advanced Medical,” June 5, 2007.