No, Lacriserts have NOT gone away, although they've been quiet for so long that it isn't any wonder people think so. As noted in a previous posting, Merck sold this product to Aton Pharma awhile back.
Yesterday Aton put out a press release and announced the launch of their new website, Lacrisert.com.
If you're a past Lacrisert user and are having trouble finding them or have been told they are no longer available, please see Aton's page with distributor information... you may want to print off the page and take it to your pharmacist:
If you're a patient who has never heard of Lacriserts, they're basically hypromellose (the stuff some artificial tears are made of) put into a little pellet that gets shoved down into your lower lid for a 'slow release' effect during the day. They are sold only by prescription. They have never been very popular but they are one of those dry eye products that has a loyal albeit very small following. Since that is the case, I'm pleased to see that they are being kept on the market and promoted rather than falling victim to the "If we can't make a big enough line item on our financials from it, we won't bother producing it" syndrome that dominates most pharmaceuticals.
If you're a doctor and thought Lacriserts were off the market, please note that they are still around and you can get prescribing info at this link.
If you're a patient and you're now mad at your doctor for erroneously telling you Lacriserts can't be had anymore, go easy on the poor guy/gal - it's impossible to keep up with all this stuff. Instead, how about politely suggesting to him/her that they subscribe to my free Monday Dry Eye Bulletins so that they can keep up with new dry eye products more easily. They can call 1-877-693-7939 x2.
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