(VER te PORE fin) Brand: Visudyne
• You must not receive this medicine if you are allergic to verteporfin, or if you have porphyria (a genetic enzyme mess that causes symptoms affecting the skin or nervous system).
• Till receiving verteporfin, speak your doctor if you have liver or gallbladder malady, or if you are receiving radiation treatment. Also speak your doctor if you are pregnant or breast-feeding.
• Speak your caregivers if you feel any burning, pain, or swelling near the IV needle when the medication is injected.
• Verteporfin will create your eyes and your skin more sensitive to easy. After receiving verteporfin, you should protect your eyes and skin from natural sunlight and bright indoor easy for at least 5 days.
• Wear dark sunglasses and hold all parts of your skin covered with clothing. Sunscreen will not be effective in protecting you from UV rays during the 5-day period after you have received verteporfin.
• Verteporfin works by enhancing the eye's sensitivity to easy. Verteporfin affects emergency blood vessels in the eye.
• Verteporfin is used together with "photodynamic" laser easy therapy to treat blood vessel disorders in the eye caused by macular degeneration and another eye diseases.
• Verteporfin may also be used for purposes not listed in this medicine guide.
• You must not receive this medicine if you are allergic to verteporfin, or if you have porphyria (a genetic enzyme mess that causes symptoms affecting the skin or nervous system).
• To create certain you can safely receive verteporfin, speak your doctor if you have another medical conditions, especially:
· liver disease;
· gallbladder malady; or
· if you are receiving radiation treatment.
• FDA pregnancy category C. It is not known whether verteporfin will harm an unborn child. Speak your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant while using this medication.
• Verteporfin can pass into breast milk and may harm a nursing child. You must not breast-feed while you are using verteporfin.
• Verteporfin is injected into a vein through an IV. You will receive this injection in a clinic or hospital setting. Verteporfin should be given slowly, and the IV infusion can take at least 10 minutes to complete.
• Speak your caregivers if you feel any burning, pain, or swelling near the IV needle when the medication is injected.
• You will receive laser easy treatment to your eye(s) within 15 minutes after the start of your verteporfin infusion.
• After receiving verteporfin, you should protect your eyes from natural sunlight and bright indoor easy for at least 5 days.. For excellent protection, wear dark sunglasses whenever you are outdoors or while indoors under bright lighting.
• You must not remain in the dark while you are indoors, as this can actually reason the drug to remain active in your body longer. It is excellent to spend your time in ambient indoor easy such as indirect sunlight through a window, or low-wattage incandescent lighting. Avoid areas where you will be exposed to halogen or fluorescent light.
• Your doctor will need to check your progress on a regular basis. Do not miss any scheduled appointments.
• Since verteporfin is given by a healthcare professional only in preparation for laser easy treatment, you will not be on a frequent dosing schedule.
• Your doctor must check your condition each 3 months to determine if you need repeat treatment.
• Search abnormal medical attention or call the Poison Help line at 1-800-222-1222.
• Overdose symptoms may include severely decreased vision.
• Verteporfin will create your eyes and your skin more sensitive to easy. Natural sunlight and bright indoor easy can expose you to deleterious UV rays, which may reason severe sunburn or hurt to your vision.
• Avoid exposure to sunlight, tanning beds, bright halogen lights, or another bright lighting for at least 5 days after you are treated with verteporfin.
• To avoid exposing your skin to sunlight, hold all parts of your skin covered with clothing. Sunscreen will not be effective in protecting you from UV rays during the 5-day period after you have received verteporfin.
• This medicine may reason blurred vision and may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be alert and able to see clearly.
• Get abnormal medical help if you have any of these signs of an allergic reaction: hives; difficulty breathing; sweating; dizziness; swelling of your person, lips, tongue, or throat.
• Speak your caregivers at once if you have a serious side effect such as:
· severe decrease in vision;
· sudden and severe pain;
· severe redness or another discoloration of your eyes;
· eye pain or seeing halos near lights;
· feeling like you might pass out;
· chest pain; or
· flushing (warmth, redness, or tingly feeling).
• Smaller serious side effects may include:
· slight changes in your vision, seeing flashes of light;
· dry eyes;
· redness, swelling, or itching of your eyelids;
· headache;
· feeling weak or tired;
· mild itching or skin rash;
· constipation, nausea;
· joint pain, muscle weakness;
· fever, chills, body aches, sore throat, flu symptoms; or
· pain, swelling, bleeding, or itching where the medication was injected.
• This is not a complete list of side effects and others may occur. Speak your doctor about any unusual or bothersome side effect. You may message side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
• Speak your doctor about all another medicines you use, especially:
· dimethyl sulfoxide (Rimso-50);
· griseofulvin (Fulvicin, Grisactin);
· polymyxin B (Polytrim, AK-Poly-Bac, Ocumycin, Polysporin Ophthalmic, Polytracin Ophthalmic);
· diabetes medications you take by mouth;
· a diuretic (water pill);
· sulfa drugs (Bactrim, Septra, Sulfatrim, SMX-TMP, and others);
· medicine used to prevent blood clots, such as abciximab (ReoPro), argatroban (Acova), bivalirudin (Angiomax), clopidogrel (Plavix), dabigatran (Pradaxa), dalteparin (Fragmin), dipyridamole (Persantine, Aggrenox), enoxaparin (Lovenox), eptifibatide (Integrilin), fondaparinux (Arixtra), lepirudin (Refludan), prasugrel (Effient), rivaroxaban (Xarelto), ticlopidine (Ticlid), tinzaparin (Innohep), tirofiban (Aggrastat), or warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven);
· a phenothiazine such as chlorpromazine (Thorazine), fluphenazine (Permitil, Prolixin), perphenazine (Trilafon), prochlorperazine (Compazine, Compro), promethazine (Pentazine, Phenergan, Anergan, Antinaus), thioridazine (Mellaril), or trifluoperazine (Stelazine);
· an antibiotic such as ciprofloxacin (Cipro), ofloxacin (Floxin), norfloxacin (Noroxin), levofloxacin (Levaquin), lomefloxacin (Maxaquin), and others;
· a tetracycline antibiotic such as doxycycline (Doryx, Oracea, Periostat, Vibramycin), minocycline (Dynacin, Minocin, Solodyn), or tetracycline (Ala-Tet, Brodspec, Panmycin, Sumycin, Tetracap); or
· heart or blood pressure medication such as amlodipine (Norvasc, Caduet, Exforge, Lotrel, Tekamlo, Tribenzor, Twynsta, Amturnide), diltiazem (Cardizem, Cartia, Dilacor, Diltia, Diltzac, Taztia, Tiazac), nifedipine (Nifedical, Procardia), verapamil (Calan, Covera, Isoptin, Verelan, Tarka), and others.
• This list is not complete and another drugs may interact with verteporfin. Speak your doctor about all medications you use. This includes prescription, over-the-counter, vitamin, and herbal commodity. Do not start a new medicine without telling your doctor.
• Your doctor or pharmacist can provide more information about verteporfin.
Remember, hold this and all another medicines out of the reach of children, never share your medicines with others, and use this medicine only for the indication prescribed.
Disclaim: Each effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Cerner Multum, Inc. ('Multum') is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, but no guarantee is made to that effect. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Multum information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Multum does not warrant that uses external of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise. Multum's drug information does not endorse drugs, diagnose patients or recommend therapy. Multum's drug information is an informational resource designed to assist licensed healthcare practitioners in caring for their patients and/or to serve consumers viewing this service as a supplement to, and not a substitute for, the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgment of healthcare practitioners. The absence of a warning for a given drug or drug combination in no way must be construed to indicate that the drug or drug combination is safety, effective or appropriate for any given patient. Multum does not assume any responsibility for any aspect of healthcare administered with the help of information Multum provides. The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.