After having eye injections with Avastin (bevacizumab), patients have reported developing Avastin injection floaters that look a lot like bubbles in the eye.

This medication, originally developed to treat cancer, is placed into syringes lubricated with silicone oil, then injected into the eyes. The preparation of Avastin for injection could cause patients to develop Avastin injection floaters as the silicone oil leaks into patients’ eyes.

Avastin

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Avastin is a drug prescribed to treat AMD, or age-related macular degeneration. The drug is also prescribed to treat diabetic eye disease and other problems associated with the retina. Avastin is injected into the eye to help slow down vision loss associated with these conditions.

Avastin blocks the development of abnormal blood vessels located in the back of the eye. For the growth of abnormal blood vessels to occur, the body needs a chemical called VEGF.

Avastin prevents the VEGF chemical from being made, thus preventing the excessive growth of blood vessels, and the diabetic eye disease and vision loss that follows when abnormal blood vessels leak and affect eye vision.

Avastin Injection Floaters

The issue arising with Avastin injection floaters is not from the drug itself, but rather the way the drug is delivered.

To prepare for the drug’s delivery, Avastin is placed into syringes by compounding pharmacies. These syringes may be lubricated with silicone oil. By the time the drug is injected into the patients’ eye, the silicone oil may migrate from the syringe’s needle, plunger, and barrel, and it mixes in with the Avastin drug itself. This leads to a multitude of patient complications including their development of Avastin injection floaters.

The longer it takes before a pre-filled syringe is used and injected into a patients’ eye, the increased likelihood that the Avastin drug becomes mixed in with the lubricated silicone oil. A frozen syringe also increases the likelihood that the Avastin drug will become mixed in with the lubricated silicone oil.

In addition to Avastin injection floaters, side effects associated with Avastin include vision loss/blindness, infection, inflammation, corneal damage, hypotony, retinal tearing, glaucoma, retinal detachment, and increased intraocular pressure.

Avastin Infection Side Effect

The preparation of Avastin by compounding pharmacies has also increased the risk that an Avastin injection may cause bacterial eye infection. Complications of serious eye infections resulted in cases in both Florida and Tennessee in 2011.

Due to patient eye infection from being exposed to bacteria in the vials, some patients completely lost their vision. In addition, one patient developed brain damage due to the bacterial eye infection.

Because of bacterial eye infection resulting from Avastin eye injections, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a recall of the syringes from specific pharmacies found to be the source of the bacteria.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual lawsuit or Avastin silicone injection class action lawsuit is best for you. [In general, Avastin lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.] Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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