Federal officials are warning consumers to avoid more than two dozen over-the-counter eye drops due to potential risk of infection that could result in partial vision loss or blindness.
The Food and Drug Administration issued the warning on Friday for 26 products sold under the following brands: CVS Health, Leader (Cardinal Health), Rugby (Cardinal Health), Rite Aid, Target Up&Up, and Velocity Pharma. Click here to see the full list of items.
"These products are intended to be sterile," the FDA said. "Ophthalmic drug products pose a potential heightened risk of harm to users because drugs applied to the eyes bypass some of the body’s natural defenses."
The FDA said it recommended on Oct. 25 that the manufacturer recall the products after agency investigators found "insanitary conditions in the manufacturing facility and positive bacterial test results from environmental sampling of critical drug production areas in the facility."
CVS, Rite Aid and Target are removing the products from their store shelves and websites. Products branded as Leader, Rugby and Velocity may still be available to purchase in stores and online and should not be purchased, the FDA said.
Consumers who may have the products in their medicine cabinets should discard of them.
The FDA said it has not received any adverse event reports of eye infection associated with these products at this time. Patients who have signs or symptoms of an eye infection after using these products should talk to their health care provider or seek medical care immediately.
Eye infection symptoms may include: yellow, green, or clear discharge from the eye; eye pain or discomfort; redness of the eye or eyelid; feeling of something in your eye; increased sensitivity to light; and blurry vision.
The warning is the latest in a series of alerts about contaminated eye drops that have left some people blind or even dead.
Two months ago, the FDA warned about Dr. Berne's MSM Drops and LightEyez MSM Eye Drops-Eye Repair -- both of which were found to have fungal and bacterial contamination.
Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control launched an investigation into recalled eye drops following a multistate outbreak of an extensively drug-resistant strain of bacteria that had never been reported in the U.S. until the outbreak.
At least 81 people reported infections, including four people who died and another four people who had to have eyeballs removed, the CDC said. More than 10 different brands of artificial tears were linked to the outbreak, the most common being Ezri Care Artificial Tears and Delsam Pharma's Artificial Tears.