sterile ophthalmic suspension in order to prepare sterile ophthalmic ointment formulations the active ingredients are combined with a preservative in an appropriate vehicle such as mineral oil liquid lanolin or white petrolatum sterile ophthalmic gel formulations may be prepared by suspending the active ingredient in a hydrophilic base prepared from the combination of carbopol 940 a carboxy vinyl polymer available from the b f goodrich company according to published formulations for analogous ophthalmic preparations preservatives and tonicity agents can be incorporated the specific type of formulation selected will depend on various factors such as the severity and type of ophthalmic inflammation being treated and dosage frequency ophthalmic solutions suspensions ointments and gels are the preferred dosage forms the following example is presented to further illustrate the compositions of the present invention ______________________________________ingredient amount wt ______________________________________thf 1 0dexamethasone 0 1tyloxapol 0 01 to 0 05hpmc 0 5benzalkonium chloride 0 01sodium chloride 0 8edetate disodium 0 01naoh hcl q s ph 7 4 sup purified water q s 100 ml______________________________________ the formulation is prepared by first placing a portion of the purified water into a beaker and heating to 90 u00b0 c the hydroxypropylmethylcellulose hpmc is then added to the heated water and mixed by means of vigorous vortex stirring until all of the hpmc is dispersed the resulting mixture is then allowed to cool while undergoing mixing in order to hydrate the hpmc the resulting solution is then sterilized by means of autoclaving in a vessel having a liquid inlet and a hydrophobic sterile air vent filter the sodium chloride and the edetate disodium are then added to a second portion of the purified water and dissolved the benzalkonium.