St Paul’s Eye Unit – Ophthalmology
What are cefuroxime 5% eye drops used for?
Cefuroxime is an antibiotic. Cefuroxime eye drops are used to treat severe infections such as in cases of gonococcal conjunctivitis or infected corneal ulcers.
How do I use my eye drops?
1. Please follow the instructions on the bottle label
2. Wash your hands before opening the bottle
3. Sit down and tilt your head back
4. Pull lower eyelid down and look up
5. Use other hand to squeeze one drop into lower eyelid making sure the nozzle does not touch your eye, eyelashes or eyelid
6. Close your eye and press gently on the inner corner of the eye for 30-60 seconds to make sure the drop is fully absorbed.
7. Please leave at least 5 minutes between using other eye drops
8. If both eyes are affected, you will need a separate bottle of eye drops for each eye
How should I store my eye drops?
Cefuroxime eye drops should be stored in fridge.
If your eye drops are left out of the fridge, please contact the hospital for further supply
How long will my eye drops last?
Cefuroxime eye drops are made in the hospital.
Once a bottle of Cefuroxime eye drops is opened, the eye drops expire after 24 hours – this means that you will need a new bottle of cefuroxime eye drops every 24 hours and any used bottles should be thrown away.
The expiry date will be written on the eye drop bottle label.
Where can I get supply of my eye drops?
Cefuroxime eye drops are an unlicensed medicine therefore can only be supplied by the hospital pharmacy.
Because this product has a short shelf life, you may need to return to the hospital to collect more eye drops.
How can I speak to someone if I have a problem with my medication or need further supply?
You can contact the ophthalmology pharmacists Monday-Friday 9-5pm if you have run out of your eye drops or if you have problems with the medication.
You can email: ahn-tr.
Or you can telephone: 0151 706 2000 and ask the operator bleep 5141
At the weekend, please contact the hospital pharmacy on 0151 706 2092 between 9am and 4pm.
For information regarding sexually transmitted infections or treatment please contact the axess service on 03003231300 between 9am and 4pm.
What does it mean if a medicine is unlicensed?
In the UK, medicines are checked to make sure they work and are safe. These checks are normally part of a clinical trial. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) gives a product licence to medicines which have passed these checks. The product licence, also called a market authorisation, will say which condition or conditions that medicine can be used to treat. An unlicensed medicine is a medicine which does not have a product licence. A medicine might be unlicensed for various reasons such as:
Manufacturers may decide not to try to get new uses for a medicine added to the product license because it is very expensive to complete the necessary clinical trials.
The number of people with a particular condition is too small to allow clinical trials to be completed.
The medicine is still going through the licensing process, which can take some time.
How do I know these medicines are safe and will work?
Your prescribers will have considered all the options for treating your condition before
deciding to give you an unlicensed medicine. The prescriber will have thought
carefully about the best medicine for you and your condition. Prescribers have a lot of experience with medicines. They will have read specialist information about the unlicensed medicine and may have talked to other experts about your treatment.
What if I don’t want to use an unlicensed medicine?
This is your choice to make. Talk it over with your prescriber. Tell them what you are
worried about. They will be able to give you more information and advice about the
medicine. Your prescriber will also be able to discuss alternative treatments with you and explain why they think this option is the best for you
Feedback
Your feedback is important to us and helps us influence care in the future.
Following your discharge from hospital or attendance at your outpatient appointment you will receive a text asking if you would recommend our service to others. Please take the time to text back, you will not be charged for the text and can opt out at any point. Your co-operation is greatly appreciated.
Further information
St Paul’s Outpatients Tel: 0151 706 3928
Text phone number: 18001 0151 706 3928
Author: Ophthalmology division
Review date: July 2029
PI 3259