FML Eye Drops

How do I use it?

• Wash your hands before using the eye drops.
• Shake the bottle before use.
• Follow this link for advice on how to use the eye drops.
• It is important to follow the instructions given by your doctor. The usual dose is one or two drops into the affected eye(s) every hour for the first 24 to 48 hours, followed by one to two drops two to four times a day for the rest of the treatment.
• Continue using the drops for as long as your doctor has advised. However, corticosteroid eye drops should not be used for longer than one week unless you are being regularly monitored by an eye specialist with regular checks of the pressure in your eyeball.
• If you wear soft contact lenses you should remove them before putting in these drops. Do not put your lenses back in for 15 minutes after using the drops. This is because the preservative in the eye drops may be absorbed by soft contact lenses and could discolour the lenses or cause eye irritation.
• When using the eye drops you should take care to not touch the dropper tip to any surface, or to your eye, in order to avoid contaminating the eye drops with germs that could cause eye infections.

Not to be used in

• Children aged two years or less.
• People with fungal, bacterial or viral infections of the eye.
• People with an undiagnosed red eye, as this could be due to a herpes virus infection that could be made worse by corticosteroid eye drops, with possible damage to vision.

This medicine should not be used if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. Please inform your doctor or pharmacist if you have previously experienced such an allergy.

If you feel you have experienced an allergic reaction, stop using this medicine and inform your doctor or pharmacist immediately.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

Certain medicines should not be used during pregnancy or breastfeeding. However, other medicines may be safely used in pregnancy or breastfeeding providing the benefits to the mother outweigh the risks to the unborn baby. Always inform your doctor if you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, before using any medicine.

• The safety of this medicine for use during pregnancy and breastfeeding has not been established. The medicine may be absorbed into the bloodstream after application into the eye and can cross the placenta and pass into breast milk. It is not recommended for use during pregnancy or breastfeeding unless the potential benefits to the mother outweigh any possible risks to the baby. Consult your doctor for further advice.
• If your doctor does ask you to use these eye drops while you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you can minimise the amount of medicine that is absorbed into your bloodstream and thus passes to your baby, by pressing on your tear duct while putting in the drops, and for a few minutes after. The tear duct is at the corner of the eye closest to your nose.

Side effects

Medicines and their possible side effects can affect individual people in different ways. The following are some of the side effects that are known to be associated with this medicine. Just because a side effect is stated here, it does not mean that all people using this medicine will experience that or any side effect.

• Blurred vision after putting in the drops.
• Eye pain, itching or irritation.
• Sensation of something in the eye(s).
• Dilated pupil(s).
• Watery eyes.
• Eyelid swelling.
• Increased pressure inside the eyeball.
• Headache.
• Dizziness.
• Unusual taste.
• Increase in blood pressure.
• Skin thinning and development of visible veins and/or skin stripes around the eye. Tell your doctor if you notice this.

Intensive or prolonged application of corticosteroids to the eye may lead to thinning of the cornea (front part of the eyeball), glaucoma, damage to the optic nerve, development of eye infections, or the formation of cataracts. Your eye specialist will want you to have regular eye check-ups to monitor for these types of side effects if you use this medicine for longer than a week.
The side effects listed above may not include all of the side effects reported by the medicine's manufacturer.

For more information about any other possible risks associated with this medicine, please read the information provided with the medicine or consult your doctor or pharmacist.

How can this medicine affect other medicines?

• No specific studies have been performed by the manufacturer to determine if this medicine interacts with any other. It is not known how much, if any, of this medicine is absorbed into the bloodstream after being administered into the eye, which makes it difficult to predict interactions that may occur. You should tell your doctor or pharmacist that you are using this medicine before using any others.
• If you are using more than one type of eye drop you should administer them at least five minutes apart, to prevent the subsequent drops washing away the first. Use eye gels or ointments last.

References:

https://www.drugs.com/pro/fml.html

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/eyes/a6752/fml-eye-drops-fluorometholone/

http://patient.info/medicine/fluorometholone-eye-drops-for-inflammation-fml

http://www.allergan.com/assets/pdf/fml_forte_pi

http://www.rxlist.com/fluorometholone-drug/patient-images-side-effects.htm