Prospective comparison of topical moxifloxacin in eliminating conjunctival bacterial flora following a one-day or one-hour application.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of a 1-hour(h) versus 1-day application of topical moxifloxacin in eliminating conjunctival bacterial flora.

Methods: In this prospective, nonrandomized, controlled trial, the surgical eyes of 60 patients scheduled for intraocular surgery received topical moxifloxacin four times a day, starting 1 day prior to surgery and three additional applications at 5-minute intervals 1 h before surgery. The nonsurgical eye of each patient only received three applications of the same antibiotic at 5-minute intervals 1 h before surgery. Conjunctival cultures were obtained at baseline and after antibiotic application.

Results: Prior to antibiotic application, 80% of surgical eyes and 70% of nonsurgical eyes had positive cultures. Following the 1-day application, significantly fewer eyes (40%) had positive cultures (P < 0.0001), with a further reduction to 32% with three additional doses 1 h prior to surgery. In the nonsurgical eye, the decrease in the percentage of positive cultures, from 55% to 53% following the three applications 1 h prior to surgery, was not significant (P > 0.9999). The 1-day application was associated with significantly fewer positive cultures, compared to the 1-h group (P = 0.0267).

Conclusions: The one-day application of moxifloxacin resulted in significantly fewer positive conjunctival cultures, compared with a 1-h application.