What you need to know about eye color changing eye drops
UPDATE 10/24/24: FDA issues warning letter to Fancy Drops Beauty LLC. FDA refers to Fancy Drops as unapproved new drugs, which have not been recognized as safe or effective and may not be legally sold in the US.
1. They don’t work.
There is no eye drop that can change the color of your eye. Period.
2. If they did work, they would be dangerous.
These eye drop brands generally list either benign or completely unknown substances in their ingredient lists. But if they did contain something that had the potential to change your eye color, they would also harm the eye in other ways that would lead to vision loss. See American Academy of Ophthalmology statement.
3. Even though they don’t work, they’re still dangerous.
Contaminated eye drops can cause nasty infections. Maybe even really nasty infections, like the deadly Pseudomonas infections from Ezricare Artificial Tears in 2023.
Eye drops bypass some of the body’s natural defenses. That means they must be sterile, i.e. free from bacteria, fungi, etc.
For eye drops to be sterile before you open them, they must be manufactured under very strict conditions in facilities that are subject to regular inspections. For eye drops to remain sterile after you open them, they must either contain an effective preservative, or be packaged in a special type of bottle with a backflow prevention mechanism. No eye color changing eye drops are made or packaged according to these standards.
LightEyez, Fancy Drops, Iris Ink and similar products are part of the latest eye drop scam.
In 2023, 4 people died and 18 lost their sight because of incorrectly manufactured eye drops.
Don’t put your eyes at risk.
TIP: Mystery ingredients are a red flag.
Legally, no one is allowed to put completely unknown / unspecified substances in eye drops. If you see an ingredient with a trademark sign (™) after it on an eye drop ingredient list, and it’s not identified as a preservative, this may indicate it is a “scam pharma” eye drop.
Examples of mystery ingredients: FancyComplex™, Crystal Complex™, Tonicity Solution™
Examples of eye color changing eye drops
Got a question about a specific product? Search our database or contact us .
Fancy Drops
Make it stand out
We first came across these in early 2023 due to their prolific google ads. They are sold at fancydropsbeauty.com. They have gone viral on Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok, where their videos have received millions of view and likes.
MANUFACTURER: These eye drops are not registered with the FDA, which means there is no reliable source to determine who the manufacturer is. However, when we purchased them online in early 2023, there was a company address in an email indicating the company is in Guangdong, China.
PACKAGING: This product is packaged in a simple multi-dose bottle, meaning it requires an effective preservative to be safe.
INGREDIENTS: According to the box it came in, the active ingredient is carboxymethylcellulose sodium 0.25% and the inactive ingredients are “Borate buffers, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, purified water, sodium bicarbonate, sodium perborate, Crystal Complex ™, Ganoderma extract.” Note: Sodium perborate is a preservative. Crystal Complex is a mystery ingredient. Ganoderma comes from a mushroom and is used in some oral supplements.
UPDATE 10/24/24: FDA issues warning letter to Fancy Drops Beauty LLC. FDA refers to Fancy Drops as unapproved new drugs, which have not been recognized as safe or effective and may not be legally sold in the US.
Iris Ink (multiple brands)
Iris Ink is a 2024 trend. It is currently (as of September 2024) being sold very cheap on Amazon and Walmart in many colors. This company behind it, Shantou Youjia E-Commerce Co Ltd, appears to have successfully manipulated the FDA’s drug listing system in order to get an OTC drug listing that may allow them to bypass potential new filters on major e-commerce platforms.
You may see this eye drop under many brand names, including XiMonth, a prolific scam pharma eye drop brand also offering fake presbyopia and myopia reversal eye drops on Amazon.
MANUFACTURER: Shantou Youjia E-Commerce Co Ltd. (China)
PACKAGING: This product is packaged in an extremely flimsy multi-dose bottle whose cap can be loosened without breaking the safety seal. We used a similar bottle (purchased on Amazon) for our fake eye drop project, Mermaid Tears. Since these eye drops contain no preservative, they are susceptible to bacterial contamination after opening.
INGREDIENTS: According to the official drug label, Iris Ink’s active ingredients are sodium bicarbonate, calcium chloride, n-acetylglucosamine and magnesium chloride. Its inactive ingredient is water.
LightEyez
These are the highest priced color changing eye drops we have seen (hundreds of dollars). We first came across LightEyez in early 2023 and reported them to the FDA. After testing them, FDA issued a public warning on 8/22/23 about one of this company’s products. In FDA’s Warning Letter to the company several months later, FDA says that the company was using unfiltered municipal water in eye drops made at their US facility in Florida. FDA states that LightEyez agreed to recall all the eye drops it was selling in the US, but has not done so. These eye drops appear to still be available for online sale to US consumers.
MANUFACTURER LightEyez Ltd (London, UK)
PACKAGING: LightEyez brand eye drops are advertised as preservative-free but are packaged in conventional multi-dose bottles. This means that they are susceptible to bacterial contamination after opening.
INGREDIENTS: Varies depending on the product. Example: “A pH Balanced Sterile Isotonic buffered Solution. Containing: Purified Aqua, 25% BRIGHLETTE™, 20% Kojic Mushroom Extract, 20% Fision® Activewhite, Stabilized 20% OptiMSM™, 10% High Potency Organic Jarrah Honey, 3% Licorice Root Extract, 2% Chamomile Extract, Hyaluronic Acid Virgin Cucumber Seed Oil, Zinc Oxide, Organic AMTicide® Coconut.”