To some other medical news now and some answers to
questions you might have that a lot of people seem
to have about eye drops tonight after all those warnings
from
the FDA. The FDA, remember,
is just putting out its third warning this year saying
27 different kinds of eye drops are not safe.
122 million of us put drops in our eyes.
This is like a third of the population,
one in three people. If you're sitting with two other
people right now,
one of you probably uses eye drops.
Erica Edwards is joining us now with more on this.
And so people, I think are feeling really anxious about
it.
Like, wait a second. OK,
these ones have been pulled off the shelves.
The FDA is saying this warning about X.
People get nervous about blindness.
Let me just say this.
Nobody needs to freak out yet,
right? Explain what we should know.
Hallie, I will be the first to tell you when
we need to freak out,
but right now, this is not that time.
At least that's what experts are telling me,
that this is just a time to be cautious about
what we're putting into our eyes and how we are
doing.
So this effects many of us.
Just as you said just today I pulled out,
you know, four different kinds of eye drops from my
desktop is the peak season for eye drop use.
The air is getting colder and drier.
I don't know about you,
but my allergies are off the charts right now,
so all of us are dealing with this.
In fact, estimates show as you said earlier,
123 million of us are using eye drops and will
so within the next year.
Here is what we need to know though.
The FDA is warning against 27 different kinds of generic
eye drops because of bacteria found in the manufacturing plant
used to make those eye drops.
Now you can find all of those different brands on
the FDA website includingoursnbcnews.com.
Right now though, there are no reports of injuries related
to those eye drops.
However, experts say that you need to really be wary
of.
You know how you're putting in them into your eyes.
Go ahead, Kelly. No, they say,
we're careful. Hire. Put them in your eyes.
Wash your hands. Don't share drops.
Use brand names. Right. That's another one.
Because our eyes are particularly vulnerable to germs and bacteria.
They're just these little, like exposed orbs are flesh,
you know, exposed to the.
That's right. You know, if you have a cut and
you get like bacteria in your cut,
your white blood cells rush to that cut and they
create a scab,
right. If you ingest something that has bacteria in it,
our stomach acid started invading those bacteria.
However, our eyes are completely different.
The corneal Dome, as the experts say,
don't have blood vessels there because we need to be
able to see clearly.
So there's not that protection in the eyes when it
comes to other parts of the body.
That's why it makes it so important that the fact
that we.
Make sure anything that we put into our eyes is
as sterile as humanly possible.
Hallie Erica Edwards Fascinating and really helpful information.
Thank you so much.