Use of steroid eye drops

How long should steroid eye drops be used? What could be the adverse effect of long term use of steroid eye drops? Are there other substitute eye drops for steroid if it has to be stopped already?

Thank you

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

All physicians use steroids reluctantly when nothing else will work because taken long enough everyone will have side effects.

In the eye the biggest problems are steroid glaucoma, steroid cataracts, decreased resistance to bacterial and viral infections.

Some people remain on steroids drops for years and very few or no side effects and other people can develop steroid glaucoma in as little as a week.

Sometimes non-steroidal antiinflamatory drops (Acular, Nevanac, etc) will work and they don't have the same type of side effects. In severe instances oral immuosupression therapy is used if there is a strong contraindication to steroid drops but a serious problem that needs treated.

JCH III MD