The extensively drug-resistant germ continues to strike amid recalls and warnings.
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More people lose eyeballs in outbreak linked to eye drops
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
My bottle of Refresh Contacts drops says to discard 90 days after opening.
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Yep, something you squirt onto mucus membranes really should be younger than the sourdough mutter that you're quietly proud of having kept alive since college days
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ColdWetDog
Ars Legatus Legionis
If you want yet another nightmare scenario to mess up your composure, read Bottle of Lies. Living is so dangerous.
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Fair point it could definitely vary by manufacturer. 28 days is more a general guideline, but some could be longer.
https://www.goodrx.com/health-topic/eye/can-you-use-expired-eye-drops
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And recourse. An importer can shut down and reincorporate almost immediately. It's probably a bit harder for Eli Lilly to do so.
And of course like J&J show, there are incredible ways of companies hiding their assets from plaintiff suits.
But still, some recourse vs none?
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Scary stuff, I feel for the patients and sad that Indian mfg didn't do their part. I rarely use eyedrops but couldn't imagine going through this.
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So glad the article picture is just an ordinary eyeball and not an infected one.
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"Antibiotic sensitivity testing suggests at least one newer antibiotic is still effective at treating the VIM-GES-CRPA strain"
Anybody knows which antibiotic this is?
Anybody knows which antibiotic this is?
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I generally try to keep my food and what-not fairly fresh. But the medicine cabinet is a shrine to the 90s. I've got Nyquil that I haven't touched in 10 years. Yes, visine (or a generic equivalent) that is probably from the last century. Neosporin, Mentholatum, even bottles of Advil that date back to 2004.
I should really clear it out and just start over.
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There are single or at the most, double use eyedrop dispensers in small plastic vials. Twist the cap off, squirt the stuff on your eyeball and recap it for the next immediate use or throw the whole thing away. I wouldn't use eyedrops in bottles that can sit around opened for weeks, if not months.
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My first job out of college was R&D in generic pharma. I know it's not an "all of them are like that" situation, but holy crap did it give me horror show experiences both in office politics and gore. (I was trained on all the equipment and testing for sterilization after "bio-hazard contamination.") A part of me had kind of hoped tightening of oxy controls would pressure out the more sweatshoppy ones, since that was a huge business for them spread out in the industry due to drug control limits.
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Do it! I did a few months ago and it felt great. Sure, it's a bummer to throw out 6 doses of 12, but you were probably gonna buy new stuff when you got sick anyway, and rotating stock is good for the body and the soul. You didn't need 27 fused-together lozenges anyway
It took me years to wise up to not buying value packs (a capitalistic colloquialism in the USA "a lot of something"). It's not as cheap per dose, but it makes way more sense than the "welp I've ended up with 10 DayQuil and 5 NyQuil and my cold is gone" cycle.
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Republican solution: The Free Market will take care of it. Defund the FDA so that we never hear about this happening again.
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Is there a way to look up country of manufacture? Or at least which particular brands are reputable and where they are known to source from?
I was looking up a generic motion sickness tablet yesterday and I realized these eyedrop articles have me suspicious of any brand that I haven’t heard of before (chalk one up for pharma advertising).
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The only two meds that I’d love to get in a Costco sized pack are Tylenol and pseudoephedrine. One I have the giant bottle; the other I just stock up throughout the year so I can survive March/April.Do it! I did a few months ago and it felt great. Sure, it's a bummer to throw out 6 doses of 12, but you were probably gonna buy new stuff when you got sick anyway, and rotating stock is good for the body and the soul. You didn't need 27 fused-together lozenges anyway
It took me years to wise up to not buying value packs (a capitalistic colloquialism in the USA "a lot of something"). It's not as cheap per dose, but it makes way more sense than the "welp I've ended up with 10 DayQuil and 5 NyQuil and my cold is gone" cycle.
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No, just a moron. As others have said it is important to discard eye drops as instructed by manufacturer. Solid dosage medication is a different thing IMHO, but liquids make a wonderful medium for bacterial or fungal growth.
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The thing is MOST of the medication available in the US is manufactured in other countries. A large portion of it in India. As a matter of fact, if you look at the stock bottles in the pharmacy, a significant percentage don't even tell you where they actually were manufactured. Just a "distributed by" address. It is a big issue IMHO.
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Visine is generally not good for you. It constricts your blood vessels to reduce redness. Also, 20 years old it really not good. Meds expire.
And this is your EYES we're talking about. Don't fuck around with your eyes.
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How is it that these people are allowed to stay in business???
This is mind-boggling to me..
People who sell weed go to prison, but corporations that sell eyeball-melting drops get, what, a non-binding reprimand from the FDA?
Our priorities are so messed up..
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Or the ingredients are sourced from India. People would be shocked if they looked up how large the India Pharma export industry is. It's tens of billions of dollars.
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Preservative-free, multi-use bottles is something my past work experience (skin antiseptics regulatory & quality) tells me to avoid whenever possible.
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Argh! A few days before I first heard about this I started getting discomfort in one of my eyes. We were out of eyedrops, and I really don't want to go buy some and find out the next week they added that brand to the list of contaminated drops. Induced crying and the eyelid trick hasn't helped. So it has been more than a month with intermittent twitching and constant feeling that there is something in my eye that I can't get out.
/pointless venting
/pointless venting
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It needs to be kept secret otherwise patients will start asking their doctors for it for every cold, and the doctors will give it.
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I was thinking the same thing
Initial thought was "I'm fine b/c I don't use eye drops", but then remembered I've been using artificial tears! (iVIZIA brand, Similasan in the corner... both trademarked)
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You just need to switch to these: https://meincmagazine.com/gadgets/201...-of-like-pouring-acid-into-your-eyes-but-goodI was thinking the same thing
Initial thought was "I'm fine b/c I don't use eye drops", but then remembered I've been using artificial tears! (iVIZIA brand, Similasan in the corner... both trademarked)
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The FDA’s only purpose now is to help big pharma profits by preventing perfectly good medicine already approved by competent agencies in the UK, EU and Japan!
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OMG that sounds horrible. Who would want that? Granted, I don't use eyedrops at all, never have, but I get anxiety just thinking about my eyeballs feeling cold for multiple hours. OMG, NO!
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Name brand medication is manufactured all over the world. It's not like India and China are only making blackmarket knockoffs sold by shady backstreet dealers. The shit you get from behind the counter at CVS comes from all over.
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XSportSeeker
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Man, this is one of those horrible news that are hard to parse...
As a non-US citizen, I gotta wonder how much to attribute to inadequate regulation, how much it's drug resistant bacteria, and then how much it's about late-stage capitalism effects of healthcare going private with people accepting to buy drugs from places like Amazon, Walmart and other retailers.
Afaik, down here in my country, regular retailers cannot sell stuff like eye drops, not even simple ones with no drugs on it. This is exclusive to drugstores that have to comply with all sorts of regulations.
Is it the case that Amazon and others are treating drugs like they treat other products, selling left and right overlooking any regulations on them? You know, like hoverboards.
As a non-US citizen, I gotta wonder how much to attribute to inadequate regulation, how much it's drug resistant bacteria, and then how much it's about late-stage capitalism effects of healthcare going private with people accepting to buy drugs from places like Amazon, Walmart and other retailers.
Afaik, down here in my country, regular retailers cannot sell stuff like eye drops, not even simple ones with no drugs on it. This is exclusive to drugstores that have to comply with all sorts of regulations.
Is it the case that Amazon and others are treating drugs like they treat other products, selling left and right overlooking any regulations on them? You know, like hoverboards.
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You'd think a product going in people's eyes would be sample tested daily for bacteria.
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The very first post on this by Ars came the morning after I got a PRK. Having to choose between discomforted, still-healing eyes and the worry I might be infecting myself with antibiotic resistant bacteria directly on the eyes was an interesting feeling.
I was using different brands from the recall, but they're still preservative-free, it still felt spooky.
I was using different brands from the recall, but they're still preservative-free, it still felt spooky.
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I've got a condition with my tears where i need to use eye drops up to 4 times a day (on top of having these inserted in some of my tear ducts: https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/punctal-plugs) so this article freaks me the hell out.
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Unfortunately, there are always some people who think that the rules don't actually apply to them.
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