a SHOPPING Warning - this happened to me !

[Janie616]

check the bottle and see if BELLADONNA (Donnatel) is one of the active ingredients ....
eyedrop belladonna.jpg eyedropdry.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_nightshade
Cosmetics
The name belladonna originates from the historic use by women (Bella Donna is Italian for beautiful lady) to dilate their pupils; an extract of belladonna was used as eye drops as part of their makeup preparations The Belladonna toxin's atropine content had the effect of dilating the pupil, thus making their eyes supposedly more attractive.
It is now known that atropine has anticholinergic activity - by blocking the ability of the iris to constrict, mydriasis results.

Dilated pupils are considered more attractive because pupils normally dilate when a person is aroused thus making eye contact much more intense than it already is. It had the adverse effect of making their vision a little blurry and making their heart rates increase.

Prolonged usage was reputed to cause blindness.

I am so glad you stopped using it when you did.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071119062847AAC4E73
Is it still possible to buy belladonna eye drops to dilate pupils for cosmetic reasons?

I'm a part time model and have heard that the dilation of the pupil makes us look more attractive. I would like to use a safe drop that I can use on my photo shoots. I've read that women used to use it in Italy to look more attractive towards men but can not find any information to say whether something like that still exists.
Best Answer- Chosen by Voters
No, it is a prescription drop and has side effects.

[TatumsMom]

Originally Posted by RMKC

V you poor thing, glad you got that resolved, i know what that feels like as i get my eyes dilated all the time due to my macular degeneration, it makes your eyes soo sensitive ! I'd be p#$% ! Something like that should not be available without a Dr. i'd be looking into that !

Maybe a little off topic but have you heard Paul Harvey talk about macular degeneration and the vitamin supplement that he recommends? It's called something like Occular Nutrition - something like that. He reads emails all the time about people that are thanking him for the recommendation. You may already be on medication for this but since I hear it all the time, I thought I'd mention it.

[ARCHIE]

I am just seeing your thread V. Thank heavens you stopped using those
eye drops. I would talk to the pharmasist where you purchased the drops.
They are so much more knowledgable about the drugs than any doctor would
be. You don't need your receipt just take in the bottle with you and discuss
what has happened to your eyes. I would also, which you said you were going
to do, contact the maker and tell them what has happened to you.
I hope your one eye gets back to normal soon with no problems.
I swear you have to be your own doctor today.

[mojo]

Originally Posted by Janie616

check the bottle and see if BELLADONNA (Donnatel) is one of the active ingredients ....
Attachment 197565 Attachment 197566

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadly_nightshade
Cosmetics
The name belladonna originates from the historic use by women (Bella Donna is Italian for beautiful lady) to dilate their pupils; an extract of belladonna was used as eye drops as part of their makeup preparations The Belladonna toxin's atropine content had the effect of dilating the pupil, thus making their eyes supposedly more attractive.
It is now known that atropine has anticholinergic activity - by blocking the ability of the iris to constrict, mydriasis results.

Dilated pupils are considered more attractive because pupils normally dilate when a person is aroused thus making eye contact much more intense than it already is. It had the adverse effect of making their vision a little blurry and making their heart rates increase.

Prolonged usage was reputed to cause blindness.

I am so glad you stopped using it when you did.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071119062847AAC4E73
Is it still possible to buy belladonna eye drops to dilate pupils for cosmetic reasons?

I'm a part time model and have heard that the dilation of the pupil makes us look more attractive. I would like to use a safe drop that I can use on my photo shoots. I've read that women used to use it in Italy to look more attractive towards men but can not find any information to say whether something like that still exists.
Best Answer- Chosen by Voters
No, it is a prescription drop and has side effects.

I was just at raleys the other day and double checked and you can still buy the eye drops with belladonna otc...

[Janie616]

Originally Posted by mojo

I was just at raleys the other day and double checked and you can still buy the eye drops with belladonna otc...

something should be done about that then. It obviously has horrible effects on people.

I will read the labels very carefully from now on.

Thanks for pointing that out to us.

[Saleswman]

Originally Posted by red98vett

You guys are the best - and thanks - you gave me some ideas. We're tracked everytime we shop by our debit or 'store' cards and I bet I can prove where I bought it since I only went to 2 stores back then...I could hardly leave the house for 2 months and the only reason I did was to get the girls their chicken so I KNOW it was probably kroger and I'm going to call their offices today

I really think you need to contact B&L and file an adverse events form. The company will send you something to fill out that needs to be reported to the FDA. I dont think this is a "normal" occurance with any of their products. I have used B&L products for years, I find it hard to believe that the standard over the counter products would react that way on a consumer.....thus what I am saying is......this is not normal.....it sounds like a serious side effect issue.

You know B&L had that huge lawsuit over the last few years for one of their products causing a very serious infection in the eyes of the contact lense user.


I would call them on their hot line on the back of the bottle.....you really need to do this for the safety of other consumers that may try to use this product....

Good luck and let use know what happens..


Shirley

[red98vett]

Originally Posted by Saleswman

I really think you need to contact B&L and file an adverse events form. The company will send you something to fill out that needs to be reported to the FDA. I dont think this is a "normal" occurance with any of their products. I have used B&L products for years, I find it hard to believe that the standard over the counter products would react that way on a consumer.....thus what I am saying is......this is not normal.....it sounds like a serious side effect issue.

You know B&L had that huge lawsuit over the last few years for one of their products causing a very serious infection in the eyes of the contact lense user.


I would call them on their hot line on the back of the bottle.....you really need to do this for the safety of other consumers that may try to use this product....

Good luck and let use know what happens..


Shirley

Thanks for these replies - this was a STOCKING mistake by the store ....

This bottle HAS a little Rx at the bottom but back when I bought them - I picked it up where you buy normal things like toothpaste etc and it looks just like OTC Eye drops -

I went thru my receipts & think it was WALGREENS that made the error and put those out in the store.

So basically what I was posting about is for everyone to READ Labels - I didn't and was using a PRESCRIPTION drop that someone accidentally/or on purpose put on the shelf - They should NOT have been there and I have noticed some eyesite changes

Thanks for the advise - I may just contact B&L about long term affects. IF I hadn't have moved and stored that box with the eye drops at my moms house and used them on my ONE eye - I would never have known why I've had dialated eyes since my husband died...(thats when I bought them)

[red98vett]

Originally Posted by mojo

I was just at raleys the other day and double checked and you can still buy the eye drops with belladonna otc...

wow....isn't belladonna a poison ?

there was nothing sexy about being practically blind AND looking high all the time. The worst part was I didn't know WHY for so many months.....I really thought something was wrong with me or it was a reaction to the medication I was taking ...I was job interviewing and had to tell each prospective employer that my eyes were dialated and I didn't know why AND bring my eye doctor recept.

NOT ONE Doctor asked me if I had purchased eye drops recently....if they had or I had thought of looking at the bottle that would have solved the problem immediately (not that I could read the fine print cause I COULDN'T ....my pupils were so huge)

[sallen15]

Wow that's really scary. I've had continuing eye problems for over a year now due to eating some of that tainted peanut butter last winter. And i've been on about every eye drop in the book. You should probably go and have the eye doctor take your eye pressure because prescription eye drops (steroids) can raise your eye pressue and also cause cataracts in the long run. I was going to the eye doctor on a weekly basis getting these things checked out.

With similar symptoms to yours, I ended up finding out that the eye infection I started with turned into Iritis which is aysmptomatic and there is no explanation on how I got it, but if it comes back I have to go through a series of tests because it could be an underlying disease causing this.