How eyeronic (sorry) — instead of relieving irritation, these eye drops may actually cause even more harm after usage. Some counterfeit Eye Mo Eye Drops have been circulating around stores in Singapore, the Health Science Authority (HSA) are rushing to pull them down before everyone goes blind.
In the first case of counterfeit eye drops being sold by shops here, HSA had been alerted to the knock-off products fraudulently labelled as ‘EYE MO Regular’ and ‘EYE MO Moist’, both of which come in 7.5ml. According to them, the eye drops were found to be of poor quality with bacterial contamination — definitely not something you’d want to drip on your cornea.
Investigations conducted found that they were being sold at convenience stores in Bishan and Chai Chee. Some pointers on how to spot if they’re fake:
“Counterfeit eye drops can cause serious harm to users as they are administered directly on the eyes,” notes the authority. “In this case, the eye drops were contaminated with bacteria, which can cause eye infections and potentially lead to serious complications such as corneal ulcers (open sores in the outer layer of the eye) and blindness.”
Consumers are advised to immediately check on their EYE MO eye drops and make sure they’re not counterfeit. If suspicious, it’s best to discard them and consult a doctor if unusual discomfort was experienced after using the eye drops. More details available in HSA’s document here.
