UK optometrists were among the first optometrists in the world to legally use diagnostic drugs in the course of their professional practice and historically have used antibacterial agents for prophylaxis following scleral contact lens fitting, applanation tonometry and foreign body removal (Mitchell 1959). The Medicines Act has traditionally granted exemptions from the general rules laid down in the Act to allow optometrists to use certain prescription-only medicines (POMs) in the course of their professional practice and in particular circumstances to supply them to their patients. The last 10 years has seen radical changes in medicines legislation that has impacted on the optometric profession (Figure 1).
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