What’s the Consensus on Using Vigamox After Eye Injections for Wet AMD?
January 24, 2010
What is the latest consensus about using vigamox after eye injections for wet macular degeneration? Has there been a recent study that suggests that it is not necessary?
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2 Responses to “What’s the Consensus on Using Vigamox After Eye Injections for Wet AMD?”
The use of antibiotics before, or after, in intraocular injection is not necessary. I agree that the antibiotics make everyone “feel” better, but a small study did not show their use significant.
Most important is lid speculum and use of a povidone/iodine antiseptic prior to injection. The speculum keeps the eye open and the lashes/lids out of the way and the iodine solution kills any bacteria present.
R. Wong, M.D.
dr wong probably knows best, but i believe you are correct- that post-op drops have been shown to be worthless, not only in wet armd injections, but even in invasive surgery like cataract. the infection typically occurs at the time of the procedure- the patient’s natural bacteria that live around the eye and lids get swept into the eye. infection is pretty rare- about 1/5000, and the proven effective way to avoid infection is simple iodine to the lids and eye. antibiotics probably don’t do much at all, except to spare the ophthalmologist a $5million dollar loss if the infection does indeed occur. its easy for the lawyer to convince the jury he should have given antibiotics–even though there’s little proof that it helps. by the way, this is why we order brain scans for every headache- its not for the patient, its for the lawsuit. so the next time you wonder why health care is so expensive- a big reason is the lack of tort reform. those brain scans, blood tests, antibiotics all add up big time to the health care bill. and remember- the doctor makes ZERO money when he orders those things.
