I was being a good little nurse and reviewing the packet insert of a new (to me) formulation of Medihoneybefore I use it on a patient tomorrow. I noticed this:
But we got it off Amazon. It’s available for anyone to purchase, no prescription required. What’s going on? Is there a level of “restriction” that isn’t quite a prescription but…like, on your honor? And if so, shouldn’t it be mentioned in the listing somewhere?
Now that I think about it, I bet a lot of my wound care supplies for work (the vast majority of which we get on Amazon) have a similar restriction and I’ve just not noticed or thought much about it before.
As it happens, I do have a doctor’s order for this, but that’s because it’s for work. So I’m not worried about running afoul of any law, even one that isn’t enforced. But I could just as easily have been buying it for myself.
I had never heard of Medihoney, so I didn’t know. Some pulse-ox meters may require a physician’s order, or a prescription so they can be covered by insurance, but my dad bought one at Walgreen’s a few years ago; it looks like the kind of clip that doubles as a refrigerator magnet, and he paid about $30 for it and carries it everywhere with him. :o
Exactly the kind I carry in my nursing bag. And we need a physician’s order to actually use it on anyone. I’ve always found that odd, too. It’s about the least invasive test, with no risks that I can think of, and people can buy the same exact device I have at Walgreens.
I just bought it from Amazon, and I ain’t nobody special. Hope it works. I’ve had sores that have been festering on and off for decades without ever fully healing. (Hidradenitis Superativa.)
WhyNot I’ll be your new best friend for turning me on to this, if it actually works.
Amazon does a lot of things, but paying attention to stuff like “Federal law restricts this device…” doesn’t seem to be one of them. I recently bought a bottle of leather dye that’s not supposed to be sold in California, but Amazon sent it to me with no questions asked.
Big A has also sold me a bunch of theoretically restricted medical supplies like xeroform and saline wound wash with no issues.
It seems from the link above that having that disclaimer on the package exempts the company from having to provide adequate usage directions. If I were their lawyer I’d advise them to put it on everything the sell.
I work in the medical devices industry and it is over-regulated IMO. By that, “medical devices” can mean just about anything from multi-million dollar MRI machines to tiny screws exactly like those you can get at Home Depot except they cost a whole lot more. My company follows FDA procedures at all times because we get audited all the time and we are very well trained and ethical but that doesn’t mean the laws are coherent and other people follow them.
I would have to ask one of our legal experts but I believe that type of warning is just an advisory and doesn’t require a literal proscription. A doctor or nurse’s advise should be enough.
That said, my company does not sell medical devices directly to consumers so we don’t have to deal with this issue much. Different regulations between countries are a much bigger deal and the U.S. tends to be the king of pointless regulation that requires small books translated into 12 different languages (literally) and packed into shipments even for trivial products. Nobody ever reads them because they don’t say anything except legalize. The whole thing is ridiculous.
The concern is pointless anyway. Anyone can buy whatever they want from the internet if they want it. I needed a new CPAP machine about a year ago but the clinic I got my original one from went out of business so there was no way to verify my valid prescription. I just found a brand-new cheaper, better one on Craigslist and and paid cash for it. There is nothing illegal about that even though commercial sites based in the U.S. refused to sell me a replacement one because they couldn’t verify the prescription. I would have had to spend thousands of dollars more to get a new sleep study and CPAP for no reason even though I already know perfectly well what is wrong. The whole thing is stupid.
Oh, I really hope it does! I’ve not used it for Hidradenitis Superativa, but I have used it on quite a few other kinds of wounds, and it’s pretty amazing stuff. Let me know how it works for you.
I’ve usually used the Medihoney Paste, which is 100% Leptospermum honey, but I’m having trouble getting it to stick on this particular wound because it can be runny with body heat. So now I’m trying the Gel, which is 80% Leptospermum honey with 20% thickeners for better adhesion in awkward and hot spots.
That makes sense. Thanks for finding it!
This is true. But this product is available from lots of other places without a prescription as well, so it’s not just Amazon looking the other way. Which is why I was wondering if there’s really a “restricted” category that isn’t “prescription”.
And yes, I’ve ordered from Amazon xeroform, saline wound wash, Dakin’s solution, silver alginate dressings and lots of others which I suspect have the same warning on them. Heck, I’ve gotten catheters on Amazon! Amazon is much cheaper then medical supply stores for just about any medical supply you can name. I just haven’t read a package insert in years, because I know how to use them. Now I’m going to pay attention, just because I’m curious.
