Quinolone eye injuries are a painful side effect of taking any kind of fluoroquinolone drug, but many medical reports have linked with cases of uveitis and eye pigment distortion with the use of the quinolone drug Avelox.

According to a recent news report, a 36-year-old man experienced pain in both his eyes and accompanying vision impairment and then sought out help from his doctor. This doctor’s visit came over a week after he visited another doctor where the man was diagnosed with mild uveitis and prescribed a topical steroid solution as treatment.

The man claims that his uveitis symptoms began to appear just two weeks after he took a course of Avelox (also known as moxifloxacin) to treat his ear infection. Avelox is a quinolone antibiotic that is regularly prescribed to treat pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, and other types of bodily infections. Although it is not as common, some doctors prescribe this fluoroquinolone antibiotic to treat ear infections, as was the case in this 36-year-old man.

During the second doctor’s visit concerning his quinolone eye problems, the man’s pain had increased and his vision had deteriorated. A subsequent eye examination using a slit lamp allegedly revealed “fine pigment keratic precipitates, many pigment granules and few non-pigmented cells in the anterior chamber,” a condition known as pigment dispersion. This pigment dispersion eventually caused the man to lose a significant amount of pigmentation in his eyes and also allegedly caused concave irises, all symptoms of the man’s quinolone eye injury.

The authors who reported on this Avelox pigment dispersion case indicate that the link between eye injuries and fluoroquinolone drugs like Avelox are stronger than previously believed.

Fluoroquinolone Eye Injury

Quinolone antibiotics like Avelox are some of the most commonly  prescribed antibiotics within the United States for bacterial infection treatments. However, according to several studies, fluoroquinolones may pose some huge health risks that outweigh the supposed benefits.

Specifically, in October 2014, JAMA published a research article that suggested the Avelox quinolone antibiotic increased a patient’s risk of developing uveitis, an eye injury that is one of the leading causes of blindness in the country. According to this Avelox eye injury study, first-time Avelox users were three times as likely to develop uveitis when compared to patients who did not use this fluoroquinolone antibiotic.

This Avelox eye injury study was preceded by another 2012 JAMA study that suggested this quinolone antibiotic increases patient risk of serious eye injury, including retinal detachment. This condition causes the retina to peel away from the eye support tissue. According to this Avelox eye injury study, consumers taking Avelox or other fluoroquinolone antibiotics were five times more likely to experience a detached retina eye injury. If a detached retina is not immediately treated, this Avelox side effect can lead to blindness or other types of permanent vision problems.

Because of these quinolone complications, many consumers have filed Avelox lawsuits or joined quinolone class action lawsuits against drug manufacturers, seeking compensation for the pain and suffering caused by an Avelox eye injury.