CooperVision^®, a manufacturer of numerous eye care products, has recently issued a voluntary recall on certain lots of Avaira contact lenses. The company states that during production from November 1^st, 2010 to August 3^rd, 2011, over 600,000 lenses were affected by an unintended presence of silicone oil residue.  Many customers that purchased the product may experience severe eye pain, haziness, and/or discomfort as a result of the mistake.

Recently, CooperVision issued an apology on its website and asks its customers to return the product if they were indeed affected by the contact lens, or if they were not affected, the company recommends that customers register the lot numbers on the back of the package on its website to see if their lenses are included in the lens recall.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a statement on its website regarding the recall and recommends all consumers that currently wear the lens to stop use immediately, return the product, and speak to an eye care practitioner as soon as possible.

Avaira contact lenses were designed for the correction of nearsightedness or farsightedness in persons diagnosed with astigmatism. Astigmatism is an unequal curving of one or more of the bending surfaces of the eye, usually the cornea, which prevents light rays from coming to a focus on the retina, ultimately producing blurred vision. However, since over 600,000 contact lenses were found to be affected by silicone oil, the product was unable to perform as intended thus many complaints were made against the company. Those victims affected by the contact lenses may require medical treatment which as a result could cause potential lawsuits against the company.

CooperVision continues to contact distributors of the product in an attempt have all of the product removed and to prevent any new problems with the contact lenses from arising.