During the latter half of the year 2006 I purchased a 110ml bottle of Optrex Eye Lotion for $890 and bathed my eyes in the eye bath. It brought relief to my tired eyes. Unfortunately I did not make a note of the date on which I opened the Optrex bottle.
A week ago I used the Optrex again and suffered great discomfort when the corners of my eyes developed an intolerable itch. I searched the box carefully and found a note in small print, barely decipherable, on the side of the box “Discard three months after first opening.”
I then looked at the instructions that are normally present in boxes of drugs. There was no statement of the discomfort that could be caused by using the lotion after the three months expiry date. Also there was no note of the antidote that would bring relief to my itching eyes. I decided to try cold filtered water in the eye bath and this brought some temporary relief, as the itching returns every few hours.
I took the Optrex bottle to the Food and Drugs Department and was lucky to meet Mr Khame Sharma, a registered pharmacist and drug inspector. Mr Sharma recognized that the lotion should only be sold in pharmacies and further, that staff in pharmacies should warn customers of the need to discard the liquid three months after first opening the bottle. He bemoaned the fact that our Guyanese consumers accept a poor service that would not be tolerated in the developed world. He drew attention to the fact that medication that caused drowsiness would be sold to consumers without a warning and could be used by persons driving vehicles.
In discussions with him we mentioned the fact that consumers in Guyana would never dream of asking to see the bottles from which tablets are dispensed for sale in small quantities in order to ascertain whether or not the tablets were being sold before or after the expiry date.
Mr Sharma undertook to have consumers protected from the use of drugs which did not carry a clear warning of expiry dates.
Having experienced the bad effects of a well-known product, it was interesting to me to see the headline of an article in the July 2003 issue of Consumer Report On Health – ‘When good drugs do bad things.’
The article began by asking what was the leading cause of liver disease in the United States. It was not alcohol, not hepatitis. No, it’s Panadol and Tylenol. We learn that drugs can occasionally help cause disease indirectly by creating or worsening the risk factors. Ibuprofen is said to raise blood pressure. The recommendation in the article was that, “Any new health problem in an older person should be considered drug induced until proven otherwise.”
The article includes a list of drug-induced diseases and a smaller list of supplement-induced diseases. Some of the supplements that may induce disease are well known. For instance –
Glucosamine and Chondroitin (for arthritis) – may worsen diabetes
Iron – may cause diabetes, heart failure
Valerian, taken for anxiety and insomnia – may cause user damage.
Consumers are advised to become familiar with the risks and side effects of the drugs that they use. In addition to talking with your doctor or pharmacist, consumers should carefully read the product information sheet that comes with all medications.
In the case of Optrex, the information sheet did not advise users what could result from use after the expiry date. For a product to be used on the eyes it is unacceptable that so little interest is displayed in the user’s welfare.
The larger bottle of 300ml, which now costs $1495 at the pharmacy, is also to be discarded three months after first opening. Money is going down the drain. Optrex should be sold in bottles with just enough liquid for use on one occasion.
