The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in late October 2023 urging consumers to avoid purchasing[1] 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[2] and Daria Van Tyne[3], 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.