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  • Startling Conclusions

    Hello Everyone, I figured I would Bring this information to Light
    I have made some very Startling Conclusions Based on the Research into Chemistry and the Ingredients Found in our over the Counter Eye Drops, That are Currently the Only treatment for Lubrication of Dry Eye Syndrome.

    To those whom are not chemists, or work for the Pharmaceutical industry. I did much research on my own as to the ingredients used in our Over the Counter Eye Drops And have come up with Startling Information That needs to be brought to the attention of every Dry Eye Sufferer.

    What I am about to Write here is based off of Factual Research, You can Do the Research yourself, if you pick up a chemistry book from your local library, however in this post I have simplified the Chemicals for you, So you can understand in lamen's terms what where these ingredients in our Eye Drops are coming from and their derivatives.

    What I will list here is ingredients to some common popular over the counter Eye Drops and explain why the ingredients are used and where they come from.

    Here is the Recipe from one name brand;

    Active Ingredients:

    -Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium (0.5%, Eye Lubricant) This is a Water Based Lubricant, You typically find 8 oz bottles of this stuff in the Personal Lubricants section of your pharmacy, Great for Lubricating the Eyes. It is a refined Chemical From the Cell Walls of the Cotton Plant, the cotton and its cellular structures are boiled down and the cellulose is left which is the cell walls the cellulose is what makes algae so slippery that's why they use it to lubricate your eyes.

    -Glycerin (1%, Eye Lubricant) This is a Bi-product or Refined Lubricant that comes from Crude Oil or Petroleum.

    -Polysorbate 80 (0.5%, Eye Lubricant) This is an Emulsifier which means it helps the last 2 ingredients mix with the water for your eye Drops. This Chemical is made From Corn.

    Inactive Ingredients:

    -Boric Acid Is a preservative, with Antibacterial and Anti fungal properties, Keeps the Bugs out of your eye drops.

    -Castor Oil A lubricating oil with some skin healing properties derived from the caster bean.

    -Erythritol A Sugar Alcohol, In simple Terms an Artificial Sweetener.

    -Levocarnitine Amino Acids, used to Heal the Eye's Tissues.

    -Carbomer Copolymer (Type A) Another chemical Derived From Petroleum

    -Purified Water Distilled Sterilized Water

    -Stabilized Oxychloro Complex (PURITE®) An acidic Preservative To keep Germs from growing in the Eye drops While they Sit on the Shelves in the store.

    -Hydrochloric Acid (to adjust pH), Sodium Hydroxide (to adjust pH) Basically battery Acid and Lye, Why is that in there to Adjust the PH of the Solution so it doesn't hurt or chemically burn your Eyes.


    Here is another Popular Non Preserved Eye Drop and its Ingredients.

    Active Ingredients

    -Polyethylene Glycol 400 0.4% Lubricant A water Based Lubricant that is Derived From Processed Crude oil or Petroleum.

    -Propylene Glycol 0.3% Lubricant Another Water Based Lubricant that is Also Derived from Crude Oil or Petroleum.

    Inactive Ingredients

    -Aminomethylpropanol A pH neutralizer that keeps the PH of the solution at the correct PH so it don't Chemically burn your Eyes.

    -boric acid A preservative used to keep out Bacteria and Fungi out of the Eye drops.

    -hydroxypropyl guar Another Water Based Lubricant, Made From the Gar or Cellulose of Plants.

    -potassium chloride An essential Mineral for the Body and Cell Structures.

    -purified water Distilled water, sterile.

    -sodium chloride Table Salt.

    -sorbitol A sugar Alcohol In lamens terms and Artificial Sweetener, Derived from Sugar.

    -hydrochloric acid and or sodium hydroxide Used to Adjust The PH again, so the resulting product don't chemical burn the Eyes.


    Wew That Sure was a lot of work Looking on where All those Chemicals were Derived from. But when you actually see what your putting in your Eyes, It raises Some Complex Questions.

    From the First product You can see Most of the stuff is made from Petroleum, Cotton, and Corn, water and Salt. Pretty interesting.

    The 2nd Product you can see that most of it Is made from Petroleum, Cotton, or Beans, Water and Salt.

    Now Most of these Ingredients that were in both the Products didn't raise any eye brows, However The Ingredients that made me Scratch My head in Both Products was;

    Erythritol And Sorbitol

    Now For the Startling Conclusion:

    Why is there An Artificial Sweetener in the Eye Drops?

    It don't Take Much Chemical Research to figure out that Erythritol And Sorbitol are Both Artificial Sweeteners similar to Xylitol.

    These Artificial Sweeteners that I just listed that are in the eye drops are no different than the ones you eat, or May Drink or You may have Drank some Today in your Diet Soda; stevia, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame potassium, and saccharin, are some many names.

    The Question Remains? Why is their Artificial Sweeteners in the Eye Drops?

    If Memory Serves Right, I remember Bacteria and other Microbes Thrive off Sugar; even artificial ones, most cultures in petri dishes use this ingredient to Grow Germs for study.

    So the Question Still Remains? Why is there Artificial Sweeteners in the Over the Counter Eye Drops?

    This is a Very Startling Conclusion, that I believe Deserves an answer.

  • #2
    My guess is the sorbitol is used as a "thickening" agent. The problem with most artificial tears is they are essentially water in a bottle with a lubricant that does not stay on the ocular surface. The compromise is make it thicker in hopes it will stay longer on the eye. I could write a short story on the cons of this way of thinking.

    Comment


    • #3
      Could it also be there to make the drops taste better when they exit through the tear ducts into your nose and down the back of your throat?

      Comment


      • #4
        You all make Very Interesting Points, You are right When you stated that Sugar is used as a "Thickening Agent", Which that makes Perfect Sense. I mean Sugars Not Toxic to the Eye I assume, But the Question Remains that I think Seriously Needs to Be addressed. Is this Artificial Sweetener that is being Added to the Eye Drops Having any Effect on the Microbes on the Ocular Surface. I mean I could take the Same Artificial Sweetener, Place it in a Petri dish with Staph, Strep and Yeast and they would Grow out of Control. The Point I'm Trying to make is, Could This Sugar Be harmful to the Treatment of Dry Eye? Could It make the Condition worse? Now Don't get me Wrong, I know preservatives and Boric Acid would kill Any bugs, but what Topical Effect Does this sugar Have on the Skin? Or the Ocular Tissues? I believe this Needs to be Addressed, I will ask my Ophamologist about this.

        Comment


        • #5
          MG, I agree with you. What are the effects of all of this stuff in the eye that was never meant to be there.

          Comment


          • #6
            I agree, the don't mimic real human tears and could be causing damage.
            Last edited by DCRdryeye; 09-Nov-2013, 19:37.

            Comment


            • #7
              Old topic I know but was just looking up the ingredients of Refresh Plus Optive (listed in first post) and found this topic and wondered the same, but seems there's a reason:

              Osmoprotectants or compatible solutes are small molecules that act as osmolytes and help organisms survive extreme osmotic stress. In plants, their accumulation can increase survival during stresses such as drought. Examples of compatible solutes include betaines, amino acids, and the sugar trehalose.
              Seems the idea is they're things that help plants survive under dry conditions and so might reduce the amount of inflammatory stress on a dry eye. Seems there's some studies around about sorbitol and erythritol for this.

              Recent attempts to counteract tear hyperosmolarity include topical application of osmoprotectants, which are small organic molecules used in many cell types to restore cell volume, stabilize protein function, and protect cells from hyperosmolarity stress [16]. Osmoprotectants, also known as “organic osmolytes” or “compatible solutes,” can be classified as amino acids (e.g., glycine, betaine, proline, taurine), polyols (e.g., glycerol, erythritol, inositols, sorbitol), small carbohydrates (e.g., trehalose), methylamines/methylsulfonium solutes (e.g., L-carnitine), or urea
              https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4165325/

              l-carnitine, erythritol and betaine function as osmoprotectants to suppress inflammatory responses via TRPV1 pathway in HCECs exposed to hyperosmotic stress. Osmoprotectants may have efficacy in reducing innate inflammation in dry eye disease.
              https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25271595

              Sufferer due to Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis.
              Avatar art by corsariomarcio

              Comment


              • #8
                I have dry sinuses. I use a nasal spray that contains xylitol. The claim is that it is a natural sweetener, a moisturizer, and has anti-adhesive effect on bacteria. I do not know where they get that information, but it works better for me than any other nasal spray. For what it's worth.

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