Drug and Contact Lens Interactions

Abstract

^"A patient who damages or loses his or her expensive hydrophilic contact lens will be annoyed - but the complaint will be much louder if the damage is caused by drugs without appropriate warning^". This opening sentence from a short article by DV Ingram from the Sussex Eye Hospital, is indicative of a potential problem for wearers of soft contact lenses in that their medication, systemic or topical (into the eye), may interact with and damage the plastic material of their lenses. With the increase in the number of contact lens wearers, it has become necessary to make both users and prescriber's of medicine aware of possible interactions that might exist between oral and/or topical medications and contact lenses. It is also true that certain eye conditions e.g. dry eyes, irritated eyes and chronic eye infections in contact lens wearers, may arise secondary to interactions between contact lenses and drugs.

Keywords:drugs;contact lens;interactions

For full text, click here:SA Fam Pract 2005;47(8):24-28