Precautions While Using This Medicine

If you are using this medicine for glaucoma, your doctor should check your eye pressure at regular visits to make sure the medicine is working.

If you will be using this medicine for a long time, your doctor should examine your eyes at regular visits to make sure this medicine does not cause unwanted effects.

Before you have any kind of surgery (including eye surgery), dental treatment, or emergency treatment , tell the medical doctor or dentist in charge and the anesthesiologist or anesthetist (the person who puts you to sleep) that you are using this medicine or have used it within the past month.

These medicines should not be used if an eye infection is present, or if the eye is wounded or injured. If redness, pain, or discharge develops, or if a foreign object becomes lodged in one or both eyes, or if you suffer a blow to the eye or eye area, notify your doctor immediately.

Avoid breathing in even small amounts of carbamate- or organophosphate-type insecticides or pesticides (for example, carbaryl [Sevin], demeton [Systox], diazinon, malathion, parathion, ronnel [Trolene], or TEPP). They may add to the effects of this medicine. Farmers, gardeners, residents of communities undergoing insecticide or pesticide spraying or dusting, workers in plants manufacturing such products, or other persons exposed to such poisons should protect themselves by wearing a mask over the nose and mouth, changing clothes frequently, and washing hands often.

Make sure your vision is clear before you drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous if you are not able to see well . This is because:

• After you apply this medicine to your eyes, your pupils may become unusually small. This may cause you to see less well at night or in dim light.
• After you begin using this medicine, your vision may be blurred or there may be a change in your near or distance vision.
• The eye ointment form of this medicine usually causes blurred vision for a short time after you apply it.