Prestige Brand Holdings has recalled 39,060 bottles of Clear Eyes Maximum Itchy Eye Relief eye drops after the FDA said there was no assurance the product was sterile. The recall covers 15ml bottles sold under lot code 2552A with an expiration date of 30 September 2027.
The product was distributed by Medtech Products Inc, a Prestige Consumer Healthcare company, and sold at Walmart, Target, Kroger, Giant Eagle, Meijer, Dollar General and Family Dollar. Consumers were told to stop using the recalled eye drops and return them for a refund.
The FDA classified the action as a Class II recall, a designation used for product problems that can cause temporary or medically reversible harm or where the chance of serious harm is remote. That sits awkwardly beside the reason for the recall itself: a lack of assurance of sterility in something meant to go directly into the eye.
Clear Eyes Maximum Itchy Eye Relief is marketed as an astringent and lubricant redness-reliever for redness, itching, burning and watery eyes, which makes sterility the one quality the product cannot afford to leave in doubt. The agency did not say in the available information what exact sterility problem prompted the recall, but the label on the bottles and the distribution through major retailers were enough to put the issue into the public view quickly.
Eye drop recalls are relatively uncommon, but they carry a memory that still lingers from 2023, when the FDA recalled EzriCare Artificial Tears after the eye drops were linked to an outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that may have resulted in one death and injuries to 68 other people. That history helps explain why a moderate-risk classification can still feel urgent when the product is an eye drop and the concern is contamination.
For now, the practical advice is simple: if a bottle matches the lot code and expiration date in the recall, it should not be used. The unresolved question is not whether the recall matters, but what specific lapse in sterility checks led Prestige Brand Holdings to pull nearly 40,000 bottles off shelves in the US.
