Acute conjunctivitis. A comparison of fusidic acid viscous eye drops and chloramphenicol

Fucidic acid viscous eye drops 1% given twice daily was compared with chloramphenicol eye drops 0.5% given 6 times daily in patients with acute conjunctivitis. Patients were recruited from 38 general practitioners in Norway. The mean duration of treatment was 6.6 days for Fucidic acid, 6.2 days for chloramphenicol. There was no major differences between the two groups in the bacteriological findings, and there was no significant difference in response to treatment. The use of fusidic acid in a carbomer vehicle as in Fucithalmic, has proved to give a long-lasting antibiotic concentration in the tear fluid, which allows the preferable twice daily application.