Important Safety Alerts

Important Safety Alerts

Recall of selected lots of two brands of Acuvue contact lenses

15 Jan 2013

The Department of Health (DH) today (January 15) drew public attention to the recall of selected lots of 1-Day Acuvue Moist Brand Contact Lenses and Acuvue Advance Brand Contact Lenses with Hydraclear as the affected products might have incomplete package sealing which might compromise the sterility of the contact lenses.

The DH, through its routine surveillance on medical device safety information, found that the United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had posted a recall notice issued by the manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care.

According to the manufacturer, the problem came to light during an internal quality review which had discovered the potential for a limited number of contact lens packages to be incompletely sealed.

"An incomplete seal may compromise contact lens sterility, which may pose the risk of an eye infection," a DH spokesman explained.

"The DH has immediately contacted the products' local supplier and found that apart from the lots listed in the MHRA's website, there are other affected lots being recalled in other countries. However, none of the known affected lots have been distributed in Hong Kong. Although the lots under recall are not distributed in Hong Kong and we have no record of related adverse events here, the fact that there may be occasional users in the territory who have somehow obtained the affected products via the Internet or from abroad justifies a public alert," the spokesman added.

According to the manufacturer, there are no reports of adverse events so far. The DH will continue to follow up with the local supplier to ascertain the scope of the recall and the root cause of the problem.

Details of the affected products are listed below. Consumers are advised to check all the digits of the printed lot number reading from left to right on the outer package and on each individual contact lens container to identify the affected products.

1-Day Acuvue Moist Brand Contact Lenses (8.5 Base Curve)

Caption: 1-Day Acuvue Moist Brand Contact Lenses (8.5 Base Curve)
Lot number Power
2054890422 +2.25D
2054890521 +2.25D
2054895620 +2.25D
1536500620 -3.75D
2138800422 -4.75D

Acuvue Advance Brand Contact Lenses with Hydraclear

Caption: Acuvue Advance Brand Contact Lenses with Hydraclear
Lot number Power
B00DJPQ -7.00D(8.3 Base Curve)
B00DMHZ -6.00D (8.3 Base Curve)
B00DMJP +4.00D (8.7 Base Curve)

"Those customers who have used the said products and are feeling unwell or are in doubt should consult their healthcare professionals for advice as soon as possible," the spokesman said.

The DH has informed public and private hospitals, relevant medical associations and optometrist associations about the issue.

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