Dry Eye Foundation Calls on Retailers to Address Rampant Sales of Potentially Unsafe Eye Drops

Dry Eye Foundation has identified more than 50 eye drops for sale online that raise safety flags, and has offered to help popular e-commerce platforms Amazon and Walmart address this growing problem. According to the Foundation, 27 out of 39 brands listed on the Foundation's "Product Alerts page" at eyedropsafety.org are currently available for sale on Amazon, Walmart or both.

"Eye drops are considered drugs. In order to be legally sold, each product must be registered with the FDA's drug database and comply with various federal safety regulations. Many smaller companies selling eye drops online are ignoring some, most, or all of these rules," according to the Dry Eye Foundation. 

"We've found counterfeits of national brands. We've found eye drops with no lot number, no expiration date, no ingredient list. We've found scary bottles. Every time I go online, I find more," said Sandra Brown, MD, Dry Eye Foundation's medical advisor. "No one knows where or how they are made."

While there are many unregistered drugs of concern, some registered drugs also violate basic safety rules. EzriCare Artificial Tears was a registered OTC drug, but was recently linked to three deaths and many cases of vision loss. It was preservative-free, but packaged in a bottle that allowed bacterial contamination after opening.

"These companies are exploiting the public's trust in major online marketplaces," says Rebecca Petris, the Foundation's president. "In reality, what they are doing is the equivalent of selling off the back of a truck." The Foundation recently approached e-commerce leadership at Amazon and Walmart, and hopes to draw their attention to the public health threat posed by unregistered eye drops sold illegally online.