Kimberly-Clark has announced a voluntary recall of its U by Kotex Sleek Tampons after the company received multiple complaints that the tampons were unraveling. Some were forced to seek medical attention to remove the leftover tampon pieces in their bodies.
The recall affects specific lots of the Sleek Tampons, Regular Absorbency manufactured between October 17, 2016 and October 16, 2018. Consumers can identify the recalled tampons by looking at the lot number on the bottom of the package.
Consumers can find a complete list of recalled lot numbers on the U by Kotex website.
Retailers are pulling the recalled tampons from their shelves and will post a notification in their stores.
In their press release, Kimberly-Clark noted that there have been a small number of reports of vaginal irritation, infections, localized vaginal injury and a range of other symptoms.
Kimberly-Clark did not state when it first started receiving customer complaints or how many consumers had alerted the company to the defect.
“What I can say is that we worked quickly to identify the issue and determine the scope, leading to the recall of this product,” a Kimberly-Clark spokesperson told CBS in an email.
Consumers who are experiencing vaginal injury, vaginal irritation, urogenital infections, or other symptoms such as abdominal pain, hot flashes, nausea or vomiting after using U by Kotex Sleek Tampons should seek immediate medical attention.
The company cautions consumers to stop using the recalled product immediately and contact their customer service team at 1-888-255-3499 between 7:30 am and 7:00 pm CT Monday-Friday.
U.S. consumers and healthcare professionals may report adverse reactions and quality problems to MedWatch: The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program.
Canadian consumers and healthcare professionals can report device-related incidents to Health Canada by completing a Health Product Complaint Form online.
No other U by Kotex products are affected by the recall.
