The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in late October 2023 urging consumers to avoid purchasing and to immediately stop using 26 over-the-counter eye drop products because of risk of eye infection that could result in partial vision loss or even blindness. More products were soon added to the list, and a few others have been voluntarily recalled. No cases of eye infection from the products have been reported as of mid-November 2023. It’s just the latest in a series of warnings and recalls related to bacterial or fungal contamination of these products.
The Conversation spoke with assistant professor of infectious diseases Alexander Sundermann and Daria Van Tyne, an assistant professor of medicine – both from the University of Pittsburgh – to explain how such contamination can occur and what consumers can do to protect themselves.
