OPHTHALMOLOGY
Do's and Don'ts of the
Common Ophthalmic
Medications
Dr Ramona Allen
BSc (Med) Hons BVSc MMedVet (Ophthalmology
Resident) Johannesburg Animal Eye Hospital
A short list of some of the more commonly used veterinary
ophthalmic drugs and some pointers on their specific applications.
Practical general tips:
• Ointment medications should be warmed up first
(put in pocket for a few minutes), a blob of cold oint-
ment onto the cornea is not going to help anyone.
• When applying more than one eyedrop in a settting,
wait 15 minutes between drops. In general, aque-
ous drops should be applied first then oil-based
ones. The exception to this is in the case of KCS,
where one first applies Tacrolimus then apply the
tear replacer, which has a longer contact time.
vet360
Issue 05 | OCTOBER 2017 | 30
1
Tacrolimus®
Tacrolimus® is used exclusively for ocular surface dis-
ease. There is little or no penetration into the anterior
chamber as the lipophilic carrier cannot cross the cor-
neal stroma. For clients (and patients) which mention
that Tacrolimus® in olive oil stings for about 10 sec-
onds, try the aqueous based 0.02% Tacrolimus®. Both
are still reported to cause a little irritation.