A New Mexico woman has filed a lawsuit against Hubble Contacts, claiming that she had to have her eye removed due to defective contact lenses. Stephanie Guarisco of Clovis alleges that she experienced severe pain and injury after using the lenses for only a few weeks, ultimately resulting in the loss of her right eye. Guarisco is suing Hubble’s parent company, Vision Path, for negligence, consumer fraud, and other counts.
According to the lawsuit, Guarisco purchased Hubble contact lenses through the company’s website in early 2020. She wore the daily lenses until late July of that same year. Weeks later, she experienced severe pain in her left eye, which led her to visit the emergency room. An optometrist subsequently diagnosed her with iridocyclitis, an inflamed iris condition. Guarisco was later diagnosed with a corneal ulcer in her left eye. However, her eye issues worsened, and she had to seek medical attention for allergy-like symptoms in her right eye, including discharge, redness, itching, and visual disturbances. After being diagnosed with a corneal ulcer in her right eye, she reported decreased vision.
Despite undergoing several surgeries to repair the ulcer, they were unsuccessful. Guarisco now has a permanent prosthetic in her right eye socket. She claims that Hubble contact lenses are made using Methafilcon A, a silicone-based polymer that many optometrists believe is inappropriate for making contact lenses due to its lack of oxygen supply to the eye. Although Hubble’s contact lenses are approved by the FDA, the lawsuit alleges that Methafilcon A is an inferior material no longer prescribed for contact lenses in the United States.
The lawsuit also accuses Vision Path of not following proper procedures for verifying customer prescriptions and paying customers for positive reviews on its website. Vision Path has stated that it is taking the allegations seriously and has initiated an investigation into the matter.
Vision Path, the parent company of Hubble Contacts, has previously faced legal issues. In January 2022, the company paid a $3.5 million settlement to the Federal Trade Commission for various violations, including failing to obtain proper optometrist prescriptions for customers’ contact lenses. This settlement was the largest ever paid by a company for violating U.S. contact lens rules. Vision Path also paid nearly $375,000 in a settlement in Texas last June for deceptive marketing practices.
Hubble Contacts, founded in 2016, sells its contact lenses online through a mail-order subscription model. The company claims that every set of lenses undergoes a thorough inspection process.