More and more patients are reporting a link between Avastin eye injection and silicone floaters left in their eye, a problem that can actually have serious side effects.

What Are Avastin Silicone Eye Injections?

Avastin (also known by its generic name, bevacizumab) is a medication used to help alleviate symptoms of a number of eye diseases.

While Avastin was initially used as a cancer treatment, doctors soon found that it could be used to help with certain eye diseases. Today, Avastin injections are often prescribed to treat several major eye diseases, including macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusion, diabetic macular edema, and diabetic retinopathy.

Despite the widespread usage of Avastin as an eye disease treatment, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only officially approved Avastin to be used in cancer treatment. These other uses are prescribed off-label, which is a normal and legal way to use medications like Avastin.

It is not the off-label usage of Avastin that is a cause for concern. Instead, it is the nature of the drug’s preparation. Indeed, patients claim that the very method in which Avastin is injected may itself put patients at risk of certain serious side effects, including infection, retinal tearing, or even vision loss.

Linking Avastin Eye Injection and Silicone Floaters

The use of Avasatin eye injections has been linked with a number of serious complications, but these side effects are not linked with the drug bevacizumab itself. Instead, patients may be exposed to these side effects because of a weird quirk in the preparation process of the syringe itself.

Before an Avastin eye injection makes it to the patient, it is pre-filled days or even several weeks in advance. Then, these syringes sit around, waiting to be used. The Avastin drug itself, bevacizumab, is not the issue here, and remains just as safe to use as time goes by.

What creates the risk is the use of a kind of silicone oil to lubricate the syringe, all along the needle, barrel, and plunger. Over days or even weeks of waiting in storage, the silicone can begin leeching into the Avastin drug itself. Silicone particles migrate into the drug, ultimately allowing them to be injected into a patient’s eye.

A patient can undergo Avastin eye injection and silicone floaters may be left behind from a syringe pre-filled days or weeks in advance. A growing number of patients are reporting serious issues with these silicone floaters. According to patients, Avastin eye injection and silicone floaters can lead to a number of serious side effects, including but not limited to the following problems:

• Increased intraocular pressure
• Inflammation
• Infection (endophthalmitis)
• Retinal tearing
• Retinal detachment
• Cataract formation
• Glaucoma (increased pressure in the eye)
• Hypotony (reduced pressure in the eye)
• Corneal damage
• Vision loss/blindness
• Other sight-related complications

Filing a Lawsuit Over Avastin Eye Injection and Silicone Floaters

If you or someone you love has suffered from serious complications caused by Avastin eye injection and silicone floaters, such as infection, inflammation, or others, you may be able to file a lawsuit. Of course, filing a lawsuit cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by these side effects, but it can help to alleviate the financial burden incurred by medical expenses and lost wages.

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.

Learn More