[The effects of medications on the eyes].

The visual system is very sensitive to side effects of medicines, either regarding systematic complications of eye drops or ocular complications following oral or intravenous treatments. For the latter, ophthalmologic regular monitoring is mostly the best preventive measure since most of iatrogenic abnormalities are reversible after ruling out the treatment. However, some ocular complications are poorly reversible, as for example with antimalarial drugs or vigabatrin. Concerning systemic complications of ocular treatments, their risk is often underestimated, while the passage of drugs in the blood can sometimes reach similar rates than those observed after an oral administration, as it is the case with some beta-blockers ophthalmic solutions. It is also advisable to distrust overdoses, or accidental oral ingestions, of parasympatholytic mydriatics which can induce neurological and cardiac complications in children or in elderly.