Quoted from http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/03/us-common-antibiotics-idUSBRE83210420120403
Common antibiotics tied to eye emergencies: study
By Genevra Pittman
NEW YORK | Tue Apr 3, 2012 4:25pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A common class of antibiotics was linked to a higher risk of so-called retinal detachment -- when the light-sensitive tissue in the eye separates from gel that fills the eyeball, in a new Canadian study.
People treated by ophthalmologists for the emergency condition were five times more likely to be taking drugs known as fluoroquinolones, which include ciprofloxacin (marketed under names including Zoxan, Proquin and Cipro) and levofloxacin (Levaquin, Cravit), than those who didn't have retinal detachment.
"We know that these drugs are toxic to connective tissue and cartilage," said Mahyar Etminan, the study's lead author, noting past studies linking fluoroquinolones with damage to Achilles and shoulder tendons.
"We wanted to see whether this damage also may translate in the eye, because there's lots of connective tissue in the eye," Etminan, from the Child and Family Research Institute of British Columbia in Vancouver, told Reuters Health.
Retinal detachment, which starts as the appearance of lines, dots or "floaters" across the eye, can cause permanent blindness in some cases if it's not surgically treated within a few days.
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