Optometry Australia is urging therapeutically endorsed optometrists prescribing eye-drops for myopia to clearly label the script ‘Must be compounded’ following incidents of Australian children receiving the wrong eye-drops from pharmacists.

Pharmaceutical Defence Limited (PDL), provider of pharmacists’ liabilities insurance, told Optometry Australia that cases were reported, last year and this year, where patients had wrongly been dispensed Atropt eye drops 1% instead of atropine 0.01%.

Atropt 1% is the only commercially available strength of atropine eye drops in Australia and is used before surgical procedures or eye examinations to dilate the pupil. The lower dose atropine 0.01% prescribed for myopia management must be compounded by a pharmacy offering sterile compounding services.

PDL reported that in all the cases where patients had received the wrong eye-drops, the words ‘To be compounded’ had not been written on the scripts. Adding to the confusion, all pharmacists are probably not aware that the lower dose atropine is being used to delay myopia progression, said PDL.