I (usually) don't give a Flox
While I usually try to refute poorly researched bad press about important medications, there is one class that's come up lately that I don't feel like people have enough of a sense of wariness about.
Fluoroquinolones are a class of antibiotic with a few different names - in the US, you've probably heard of Cipro (ciprofloxacin), Avelox (moxifloxacin - fun to say with an English accent), and Levaquin (levofloxacin). Every now and then I have someone voice concerns about this after they read the package insert, but that's pretty rare, so I'll point out a few notes from the FDA about fluoroquinolones:
2004 - warning about risk of developing peripheral neuropathy (nerve pain or numbness in the extremities)
2008 - black box warning about permanent tendinitis and tendon rupture. This one got some press but has been largely forgotten. I blame the news cycle.
2011 - black box warning for exacerbating myasthenia gravis - a rare condition though so for most people not too important)
2013 - strengthened the warning about peripheral neuropathy, this time calling it potentially permanent and disabling
2016 - added a warning that it should only be used for treating COPD exacerbations, uncomplicated urinary tract infections and sinus infections in people with no other options
2018 - added three warnings on the risk of a hypoglycemic coma, mental health side effects (attention disturbance, memory impairment, agitation, disorientation, nervousness), and aortic dissection and aortic aneurysms.
So I think we're probably on the same page now in that these medications shouldn't be used if there's any other good alternative. I don't think this applies to eye drops in the same way as I know sometimes ofloxacin drops are used and don't get absorbed as much into the rest of the system.
If you have concerns that you or a loved one may have been affected by one of these things, unfortunately there is no test to determine the cause of any of the issues I mentioned above, it's more about thinking for the future and an ounce of prevention > pound of cure.