page_title: Fluorescein
section_title: Medical use
hierarchical_section_title: Fluorescein / Uses / Medical use
caption_attribution_description: English: CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, Japan – Flourescein is dropped into a patient’s eye to make his eyes easier to examine during various procedures using the slit lamp, a microscope device used to evaluate many aspects of eye health. Flourescein is a combination of anesthetic and dye. The dye makes certain areas in the eye glow and easier to see. The optometry clinics here and aboard Marine Corps Air Station Futenma extended their eye care service beginning Aug. 2, from three days to five days each week, saving hundreds of lost man-hours spent traveling to the hospital on Camp Lester for eye care.
context_page_description: Fluorescein is an organic compound and dye. It is available as a dark orange/red powder slightly soluble in water and alcohol. It is widely used as a fluorescent tracer for many applications.
  Fluorescein is a fluorophore commonly used in microscopy, in a type of dye laser as the gain medium, in forensics and serology to detect latent blood stains, and in dye tracing. Fluorescein has an absorption maximum at 494 nm and emission maximum of 512 nm. The major derivatives are fluorescein isothiocyanate and, in oligonucleotide synthesis, 6-FAM phosphoramidite.
  The color of its aqueous solution varies from green to orange as a function of the way it is observed: by reflection or by transmission, as can be noticed in bubble levels, for example, in which fluorescein is added as a colorant to the alcohol filling the tube in order to increase the visibility of the air bubble contained within. More concentrated solutions of fluorescein can even appear red.
  It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
context_section_description: Fluorescein sodium, the sodium salt of fluorescein, is used extensively as a diagnostic tool in the field of ophthalmology and optometry, where topical fluorescein is used in the diagnosis of corneal abrasions, corneal ulcers and herpetic corneal infections.  It is also used in rigid gas permeable contact lens fitting to evaluate the tear layer under the lens. It is available as sterile single-use sachets containing lint-free paper applicators soaked in fluorescein sodium.
  Intravenous or oral fluorescein is used in fluorescein angiography in research and to diagnose and categorize vascular disorders including retinal disease macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, inflammatory intraocular conditions, and intraocular tumors. It is also being used increasingly during surgery for brain tumors.
  Diluted fluorescein dye has been used to localise multiple muscular ventricular septal defects during open heart surgery and confirm the presence of any residual defects.
caption: Fluorescein drops being instilled for an eye examination
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