Medical Must-See: Don’t dot your eyes with topical anaesthetic
US doctors recommend treating corneal abrasions with topical antibiotics and lubricating drops instead.
Ophthalmologists have warned their colleagues in ED not to prescribe topical anaesthetic eye drops after a trio of patients presented with complications.
All three patients had been prescribed eye drops containing proparacaine hydrochloride ophthalmic solution (0.5%) for corneal abrasions.
But they ended up presenting to the Mayo Clinic’s ophthalmology unit in Florida in the US.
The first, aged 58, had “debilitating” pain in his left eye following cardiac surgery, and was prescribed the eye drops as well as a topical antibiotic (ofloxacin).
