Bausch & Lomb, a famous American eye health company, has found the cause of the recent fungal corneal infection occurring in some 300 contact lens users worldwide, Channel NewsAsia reported Friday night.

The reason lies in the formula of the ReNu MoistureLoc multi- purpose contact lens solution itself which contains three polymers instead of one as found in most of other contact lens solutions.

Having been used to make the eyes of contact lens users more comfortable, the polymers actually trap the fungus and prevent it from being killed by the strong and effective disinfectant in the formula, the report quoted Donald Tan, a local ophthalmologist, as saying.

The company also found that the fungus grows on the tip and the cap of an open solution bottle and that each time a user adds the solution into his contact lens case, the fungus goes into the case as well, according to Tan, who is also the director of the Singapore Eye Research Institute.

The result was unveiled at the 21st Congress of the Asia- Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology, which is being held in Singapore, according to the report.

Bausch & Lomb recalled the MoistureLoc contact lens solution throughout the world on May 15 this year after a sharply increasing number of fungal corneal infection cases had been reported in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the United States while a majority of the patients said that they had used this product.

Source: Xinhua