Buying eye drops from overseas websites

Buying eye drops from a website outside the United States carries more unknowns: who made the product, how it was stored, whether the label is in English and meets U.S. rules, and who answers if something goes wrong. FDA’s BeSafeRx campaign points buyers to sellers with a U.S. street address and phone number. Quell ships from Brentwood, Tennessee, to U.S. addresses only.

What BeSafeRx is

BeSafeRx is a public awareness campaign run by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help consumers buy medicines online more safely. It is aimed mainly at prescription medicines, but the signs it teaches carry over to any drug product you put in your eye, because they’re about the seller, not the prescription.

The signs FDA lists for a trustworthy online seller

FDA’s “Considering an Online Pharmacy?” page, part of BeSafeRx, lists signs of a legitimate online pharmacy. Several apply directly to buying eye drops:

• A U.S. street address and a phone number you can call.
• A license from a state board of pharmacy, for sites that operate as pharmacies.
• A licensed pharmacist available to answer questions, again for pharmacies.
• A requirement for a valid prescription, for prescription drugs. Over-the-counter drops like Quell don’t need one, so that sign doesn’t apply to them.

Warning signs FDA lists

The same page lists warning signs, and several are exactly what can go wrong with a package from abroad:

• The seller isn’t licensed in the United States or by your state board of pharmacy.
• The product looks different from what you’d get locally, or arrives damaged or expired.
• There is no expiration date, or the packaging is in a foreign language.
• Prices seem far too low to be real.
• You’re charged for orders you didn’t place or never received.
• There is no clear privacy policy, or the site sells your personal and financial information.

Why the label language matters for eye drops

An over-the-counter drug sold in the United States carries a Drug Facts panel in English, set out in a fixed order: active ingredients, uses, warnings, directions, other information and inactive ingredients. If a bottle arrives with a label you can’t read, you can’t check what’s in it or how to use it, and you can’t follow its warnings. It also leaves you nothing to show a pharmacist: asking about an ingredient starts with being able to read its name, and a translated listing on a website isn’t the same as the label on the bottle in your hand.

Quell’s panel is reproduced word for word on the Drug Facts page. Its actives are Glycerol (1.0%), Polysorbate 80 (1.0%) and Light Mineral Oil (0.5%), and its inactive ingredients are Caprylyl Glycol, Dead Sea Salt (Sodium Chloride), Emu Oil, Glyceryl Laurate, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Manuka Honey, Polaxamer 188, Sterile Water, Terminalia Chubula and Tromethamine. Its warnings begin: Caution should be used in those with egg or bird allergies — For use in the eyes only. You can read every line before you pay.

Storage and transit

Eye drops have a storage range, and a long international journey through warehouses and cargo holds is hard to account for. Quell’s label reads Store between 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F). When a bottle arrives, check it against the label: The eye drops have a naturally milky-brown appearance. This is normal and does not indicate a problem with the product. The Do not use line is short and firm: If this product changes color.

If something goes wrong

A seller abroad may be hard to reach and outside the reach of U.S. consumer protections. BeSafeRx points people to FDA’s MedWatch program to report unexpected side effects, and to FDA’s form for reporting websites that appear to sell medicine illegally.

Quell, for comparison, is sold by Aurora Pharmaceuticals, LLC, 330 Franklin Road, Suite 135A, #117, Brentwood, TN 37027, USA, with a phone line at 615.465.6041, M–F 9AM–5PM CST. Damaged, incorrect or broken-seal orders are replaced, and the refund policy is written down: 30-day refunds on unopened bottles, no need to send them back.

A short check before you buy from any site

• Find the seller’s company name, a U.S. street address and a working phone number.
• Read the full Drug Facts panel on the listing before paying.
• Look for a written returns policy and a privacy policy.
• Be wary of a price far below what U.S. stores charge.
• When the bottle arrives, check the seal, the expiration date and the label language.

How to buy eye drops online safely covers the same checks for U.S. sites. If you live outside the United States, note that Quell doesn’t ship abroad; does Quell ship outside the US? explains.