{"id":245703,"date":"2025-07-07T16:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/245703\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T16:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:30:14","slug":"urgent-warning-issued-as-drug-chiefs-recall-common-eye-drops-due-to-risk-they-could-cause-blindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/245703\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent warning issued as drug chiefs recall common eye drops due to risk they could cause BLINDNESS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Health officials have urgently recalled over 11,000 eye drops due to manufacturing issues that may have made the products unsterile that could leave patients blind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UK medicines watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) slapped an alert on one batch of Zaditen 0.25mg\/ml eye drops, used to treat seasonal allergies such as hay fever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is feared the drug may have been contaminated during manufacturing, potentially causing conjunctivitis <\/a>and inflammation of the cornea and eyelid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Left untreated, these conditions can cause permanent eye damage and even blindness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bacterial conjunctivitis\u2014more commonly known as pink eye\u2014is extremely contagious.<\/p>\n

The infection usually affects both eyes and makes them red, itchy and watery and often causes a gritty burning sensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the most severe cases, this can lead to the melting and perforation of the cornea and eventually vision loss if not treated immediately with antibiotics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the MHRA, which published the alert today, said it had not yet received any complication or reports of harm from patients who had taken the commonly-prescribed eye drops.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The eye drops work by suppressing the immune system and dampening the allergic reaction seasonal allergy sufferers experience – but this specific batch could potentially cause inflammation and serious infection resulting in vision loss<\/p>\n

The recall<\/a>\u00a0only impacts one batch of the 5ml eye drop solution, manufactured by Laboratoires Th\u00e9a, with the batch number\u00a04V64 and an expiry date of September 30 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The eye drops are commonly prescribed to hay fever sufferers to help manage seasonal symptoms such as red, itchy, watery and puffy eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The drops can be taken by anyone over the age of three up to two times a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The recall comes at a time when more people are likely to be using eye drops, as the UK experiences high pollen counts, making seasonal conjunctivitis symptoms worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The eye drops work by prohibiting the release of natural substances, including histamine, in the body that cause allergic reactions.<\/p>\n

Environmental monitoring plays a critical role in developing sterile drugs, such as eye drops, allowing manufacturers to gain insight into the presence of contaminates in the environment where the drug is processed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This helps ensure that potentially life-threatening bacteria do not come into contact with the drug.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In its recall, the MHRA said patients who experience an adverse reaction or have questions about the recall should should seek medical attention.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The recall comes amid forecasts of high pollen levels across the UK this month<\/p>\n

Adverse side effects should also be reported via the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The scheme, set up in the 1960s, allows doctors, pharmacists and patients themselves to report adverse reactions believed to be caused by prescription and over-the-counter drugs, implants and alternative medicines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This can lead to them being reviewed, having warnings added to the label or even being taken off the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Medical professionals have long urged the millions of Brits who suffer from bad hay fever and seasonal allergies to take precautions including taking regular medication.<\/p>\n

Patients are advised to visit their local pharmacy for quick and safe treatments to relieve their symptoms\u2014with Zaditen being a prescription only remedy.<\/p>\n

The NHS also recommends people put Vaseline around their nostrils to trap pollen, wear wrap-around sunglasses to stop pollen getting in the eyes and shower and change clothes after being outside to wash pollen off.<\/p>\n

Unlike a cold, which normally goes away within a week, hay fever can last for weeks or months.<\/p>\n

Symptoms begin when immune cells mistakenly identify pollen proteins as a threat and make antibodies that trigger chemicals called histamines.<\/p>\n

These make the blood vessels dilate, prompting the release of fluid from capillaries, triggering a runny nose, sneezing and weeping eyes.<\/p>\n

While not life-threatening itself, tens of thousands of hay fever sufferers also have asthma, which can flare-up during pollen bombs. Asthma attacks can be fatal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health officials have urgently recalled over 11,000 eye drops due to manufacturing issues that may have made the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[92,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-245703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114812906685895543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}