Fluorometholone: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Fluorometholone is a corticosteroid sold in the U.S. under 3 brand and generic names, for conjunctivitis, inflammation and keratitis. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Corticosteroid
- Treats (across its forms)
- Conjunctivitis, Inflammation and Keratitis
- Available as
- Drops · Topical
- Sold as
- 3 products — Fml, Fml Forte and Oxylone
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $13 per ml — not your price
How Fml Forte is dosed
From the FDA label for Fml Forte (application NDA019216). Other fluorometholone products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Shake well before using. Instill one drop into the conjunctival sac two to four times daily. During the initial 24 to 48 hours, the dosing frequency may be increased to one application every four hours. Care should be taken not to discontinue therapy prematurely. If signs and symptoms fail to improve after two days, the patient should be re-evaluated (see PRECAUTIONS ). The dosing of FML FORTE ® suspension may be reduced, but care should be taken not to discontinue therapy prematurely. In chronic conditions, withdrawal of treatment should be carried out by gradually decreasing the frequency of applications.
Everything below is the FDA label for Fml Forte (drops). Fluorometholone is also sold as topical, and those are different medicines to take — follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Fml Forte side effects
Adverse reactions include, in decreasing order of frequency, elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP) with possible development of glaucoma and infrequent optic nerve damage, posterior subcapsular cataract formation, and delayed wound healing. Although systemic effects are extremely uncommon, there have been rare occurrences of systemic hypercorticoidism after use of topical dermatologic steroids applied to the skin. Corticosteroid-containing preparations have also been reported to cause acute anterior uveitis and perforation of the globe. Keratitis, conjunctivitis, corneal ulcers, mydriasis, conjunctival hyperemia, loss of accommodation and ptosis have occasionally been reported following local use of corticosteroids. The development of secondary ocular infection (bacterial, fungal and viral) has occurred. Fungal and viral infections of the cornea are particularly prone to develop coincidentally with long-term applications of steroids. The possibility of fungal invasion should be considered in any persistent corneal ulceration where steroid treatment has been used (see WARNINGS ). Transient burning and stinging upon instillation and other minor symptoms of ocular irritation have been reported with the use of FML FORTE ® suspension. Other adverse events reported with the use of fluorometholone include: allergic reactions; foreign body sensation; erythema of eyelid; eyelid…
Who shouldn’t take Fml Forte
FML FORTE ® suspension is contraindicated in most viral diseases of the cornea and conjunctiva, including epithelial herpes simplex keratitis (dendritic keratitis), vaccinia, and varicella, and also in mycobacterial infection of the eye and fungal diseases of ocular structures. FML FORTE ® suspension is also contraindicated in individuals with known or suspected hypersensitivity to any of the ingredients of this preparation and to other corticosteroids.
Every fluorometholone product we track (3)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
| # | Drug | Rating | Type | Form | Generic? | Pharmacy pays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 72/100 | Prescription | Drops | Generic | $13 | View → | |
| 2 | 72/100 | Prescription | Drops | Generic | $13 | View → | |
| 3 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Topical | Generic | $13 | View → |
Combination products containing fluorometholone
A combination is a different drug — different dosing, different warnings. It is listed here so you can find it, not so you can substitute it.
How long fluorometholone keeps
No fluorometholone label we read sets a separate limit for after opening, but they do specify how it must be stored — and the stability behind any date assumes those conditions.
Does fluorometholone expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsWhat people report to the FDA about fluorometholone
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 2,855 reports naming fluorometholone, and the FDA flagged 53% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- treatment failure328 reports
- fatigue205 reports
- eye pain196 reports
- headache178 reports
- diarrhoea177 reports
- dyspnoea172 reports
- arthralgia162 reports
- nausea149 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean fluorometholone caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved August 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is Fml Forte?
Fml Forte (Fluorometholone) is a corticosteroid used to treat Conjunctivitis, Inflammation, Keratitis.
What kind of drug is fluorometholone?
The FDA classifies fluorometholone as a corticosteroid. Corticosteroids mimic the body's natural stress hormone cortisol: they enter cells and bind a glucocorticoid receptor that switches off genes for inflammatory chemicals, calming swelling, redness, and an overactive immune response. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take fluorometholone with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run fluorometholone against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What brand names is fluorometholone sold under?
We track 3 fluorometholone-containing products in the U.S.: Fml, Fml Forte and Oxylone. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does fluorometholone come in?
Across the brands we track, fluorometholone is currently marketed as drops and topical, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic fluorometholone?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled fluorometholone product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Fluorometholone: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/fluorometholone
- MLA
- “Fluorometholone: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/fluorometholone.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for fluorometholone on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.