Besifloxacin Ophthalmic : Uses, Side Effects, Interactions & More

You should expect your symptoms to improve during your treatment. Call your doctor if your symptoms do not go away or get worse, or if you develop other eye problems during your treatment.

Use besifloxacin eye drops until the prescription runs out, even if you feel better. If you stop using besifloxacin eye drops too soon or miss doses, your infection may not be fully treated and the bacteria may become resistant to antibiotics.

When using besifloxacin eye drops, be careful not to let the tip of the bottle touch your eye, fingers, or any surface. If the tip touches another surface, bacteria can get into the eye drops. Using eye drops that are contaminated with bacteria can cause serious damage to the eye or loss of vision. If you think your eye drops have been contaminated, call your doctor or pharmacist.

To use the eye drops, follow these steps:

1. Wash your hands well with soap and water.
2. Check the dropper tip to make sure it is not chipped or cracked.
3. Avoid touching the tip of the dropper against your eye or anything else; The eye drops and dropper must be kept clean.
4. While tilting your head back, lower the lower lid of your eye with your index finger to form a pocket.
5. Hold the dropper (tip down) with the other hand, as close to the eye as possible without touching it.
6. Rest the remaining fingers of that hand against your face.
7. While looking up, gently squeeze the dropper so that a single drop falls into the pocket formed by the lower eyelid. Remove your index finger from the lower eyelid.
8. Close your eye for 2 to 3 minutes and tilt your head down as if looking at the ground. Try not to blink or squeeze your eyelids.
9. Place a finger over the tear duct and apply gentle pressure.
10. Wipe any excess fluid from your face with a tissue.
11. If you are using more than one drop in the same eye, wait at least 5 minutes before instilling the next drop.
12. Replace and tighten the dropper bottle cap. Do not clean or rinse the dropper tip.
13. Wash your hands to remove any medicine.

Before using besifloxacin eye drops,

• Tell your doctor and pharmacist if you are allergic to besifloxacin, any other quinolone or fluoroquinolone antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin (Ciloxan, Cipro), gatifloxacin (Zymar), gemifloxacin (Factive), levofloxacin (Levaquin, Quixin), lomefloxacin (not Max. ). available in the US), moxifloxacin (Avelox, Vigamox), nalidixic acid (NegGram), norfloxacin (Noroxin), ofloxacin (Floxin, Ocuflox), and sparfloxacin (Zagam) (not available in the US), any any other medicine or any of the ingredients in besifloxacin eye drops. Ask your pharmacist for a list of the ingredients.
• Tell your doctor and pharmacist what other prescription and nonprescription medications, vitamins, nutritional supplements, and herbal products you are taking or plan to take. Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications or monitor you carefully for side effects.
• Tell your doctor if you have or have ever had any medical conditions.
• Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. If you become pregnant while using besifloxacin eye drops, call your doctor.
• Tell your doctor if you wear contact lenses. You should not wear contact lenses while you have symptoms of bacterial conjunctivitis or while you are using besifloxacin eye drops.
• You should know that bacterial conjunctivitis spreads easily. Wash your hands often, especially after touching your eyes. When your infection clears, you should wash or replace any eye makeup, contact lenses, or other objects that have touched your infected eyes.

Besifloxacin eye drops may cause side effects. Tell your doctor if any of these symptoms are severe or do not go away:

• red, itchy, or irritated eyes
• eye pain
• blurred vision
• headache

Some side effects can be serious. If you experience any of these symptoms, call your doctor immediately:

• rash
• hives
• itching
• difficulty breathing or swallowing
• swelling of the face, throat, tongue, lips, eyes, hands, feet, ankles, or lower legs

Besifloxacin eye drops may cause other side effects. Call your doctor if you have any unusual problems while using this medicine.

If you experience a serious side effect, you or your doctor can submit a report online to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program (http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch) or by phone (1-800-332-1088).

Unnecessary medications must be disposed of in special ways to ensure they cannot be consumed by pets, children, and others. However, you should not flush this medicine down the toilet. Instead, the best way to dispose of your medications is through a drug take-back program. Talk to your pharmacist or contact your local garbage / recycling department to find out about take-back programs in your community. See the FDA Safe Drug Disposal website (http://goo.gl/c4Rm4p) for more information if you do not have access to a take-back program.

It is important to keep all medicines out of the sight and reach of children, since many containers (such as those containing weekly pills and those for eye drops, creams, patches and inhalers) are not child-resistant and small children can easily open them. To protect young children from poisoning, always close the safety caps and immediately place the medicine in a safe place, one that is upright and out of their sight and reach. http://www.upandaway.org

Don’t let anyone use your medicine. Your prescription probably can’t be refilled. If you still have symptoms of infection after finishing besifloxacin eye drops, call your doctor.

It is important that you keep a written list of all prescription and over-the-counter (over-the-counter) medications you are taking, as well as any products such as vitamins, minerals, or other dietary supplements. You should take this list with you every time you visit a doctor or if you go into hospital. It is also important information to take with you in case of emergencies.