Fluoroquinolones Antibiotics use may be linked to higher risk of Retinal Detachment
As the name shows, retinal detachment is a condition that the inner layer of the eye ball is separated from the underlying supporting layers. Retinal is the light sensitive inner layer of the eye ball.
With a detachment of the retina, sudden blindness in the affected eye occurs which requires the surgical help in order to prevent further damage, although the prognosis still remains quite poor in most of the cases.
According to the recently published report in Journal of American Medical Association and Achieves Journal it was found that about one million patients, who were studied, were at a higher risk of developing retinal detachments, who had visited the ophthalmologist and were prescribed the oral antibiotics, especially fluoroquinolone.
The report describes that fluoroquinolone antibiotics are among the most widely used classes of antibiotics for any reason. However, they have certain documented side effects when it comes to the discussion about ocular safety.
Fluoroquinolone antibiotics have been found to be linked with corneal perforations, detachment of retina and optic neuropathy.
Of all the patients studied for this analysis of oral antibiotics, it was found that the patients using fluoroquinolone antibiotics were about 5 times more susceptible for diagnosis of retinal detachment than those who were not prescribed any oral antibiotics.
The risk was found only with fluoroquinolone and not with the beta lactam antibiotics or short acting beta agonists. Moreover there was no risk found associated with the past users or recent users for this oral antibiotic, only the current users were found to be at a higher risk for developing retinal detachment. This indicates an acute side effect.
Thus oral antibiotics may be described as having an association with retinal detachment, especially in those who already possess the other risk factors for detachment namely myopia, diabetes or having a history of ocular surgery.
