Pink eye outbreak in Hanoi, eye drops "sold out"

Eye drops prices increase, shortage

In the past 2 months, the pink eye epidemic has broken out and become increasingly complicated, especially in big cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang,...

Faced with this situation, many people have bought medicine to treat pink eye on their own. Out of fear, many people have bought it to stock up for prevention. This has caused eye drops to become increasingly scarce, out of stock, and showing signs of increasing in price.

eye pain in hanoi abdominal pain runny nose picture 1 — Customers looking to buy medicine to prevent pink eye.

According to a survey conducted by reporters at many pharmacies in Hanoi, over the past month, drugs to treat pink eye have been sold in large quantities due to increasing demand from the public. Some pharmacies do not have enough products to sell to customers.

Staff at Tuan Khang Pharmacy (Cau Giay, Hanoi) said that popular eye drops such as Tobrex, Tobrin, etc. were sold out 2 days ago. Currently, less popular eye drops are still available, but not many. In addition, these medications are also out of stock.

Due to high demand from the people, some pharmacies have increased the selling price of eye drops. For popular eye drops, the price has been increased by 10,000 VND - 20,000 VND/product.

Specifically, Tobrex eye drops increased from 55,000 VND/bottle to 65,000 VND - 70,000 VND/bottle, Tobrin increased from 45,000 VND/bottle to 60,000 VND/bottle, Oflovid increased from 60,000 VND/bottle to 80,000 VND/bottle.

In addition, many people are also looking to buy products to treat pink eye such as 0.9% sodium chloride saline solution, laci-eye eye care medicine,...

“When the epidemic broke out, the consumption of products supporting the treatment of pink eye doubled or tripled compared to before. Input prices increased, so we also increased the selling price. Many people even hoarded the products to push up the selling price on websites, making these products even more scarce,” said an employee at a pharmacy in Xa Dan (Dong Da, Hanoi).

Explaining this situation, Dr. Tran Hai Dong - Head of Pharmacy Department - Thien Thanh Eye Hospital said that the reason for the drug shortage this year is due to the lack of raw materials for production worldwide, mainly the antibiotic Ofloxacin. However, domestically, there are many new production batches of unknown origin, causing the eye drop market to be disrupted by counterfeit and smuggled goods.

Notes when treating pink eye

According to Dr. Tran Hai Dong, many people make mistakes in treating pink eye, causing the complications of the disease to become more severe. In particular, improper self-treatment and indiscriminate use of antibiotics can develop into keratitis, causing impaired vision and even blindness.

eye pain in hanoi abdominal pain runny nose picture 2 — Imported eye drops are sought after by many people.

Regarding taking antibiotics to reduce the uncomfortable symptoms of pink eye, Dr. Tran Hai Dong said that for eye diseases, oral antibiotics are often ineffective because it is difficult for the drug to penetrate the blood-eye barrier, so taking antibiotics is not the best choice when suffering from the disease.

In addition, many people have the habit of arbitrarily taking other people's prescriptions to apply to themselves. However, each patient will respond to treatment with different types of drugs, some people are suitable for one type but resistant to another, so monitoring must be very careful by ophthalmologists.

When the redness and inflammation of the eyes are gone, many people often neglect to take care of their eyes. However, even though the symptoms have subsided, it does not mean that the conjunctiva and cornea have healed.

Continuing to use eye drops after about 1-2 months is necessary to prevent dry eyes and limit damage if exposed to adverse factors such as foreign objects, wind, rubbing eyes, etc., leading to recurrence.

Eye gels and ointments such as Hylo Night, Hydramed Night, Farvis Gel, Eyegel Plus... are essential for the process of soothing and restoring damage, so they should be combined with liquid daytime ointments to speed up the recovery of the conjunctiva and cornea.

Article and photos: Nguyen Linh

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