Thursday, January 29, 2009

Aaaand here we go with another study of two more glaucoma drugs (Travatan and Xalatan) ravaging the ocular surface.

But I wish they had mentioned in the abstract whether the travoprost was Travatan or Travatan-Z... i.e. BAK-preserved or not. This is not a minor distinction. I don't know whether we're talking the drugs being bad or the preservatives. I've emailed the author to find out. The Xalatan of course is BAK preserved.

Oftalmologia. 2008;52(3):114-9.
[Ocular surface disfunction in glaucoma]

Stefan C, Dumitrica DM.


PURPOSE: To determine the effects of travoprost 0.004% and latanoprost 0.005% treatment on ocular surface in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients.

METHODS: Clinical, observational prospective study, during 6 months on two groups of patients newly diagnosticated with POAG. Group I (10 patients) was treated with travoprost 0.004% and group II (10 patients) was treated with latanoprost 0.005%. The groups were homogeneous about age and sex, exclision criteria being any ocular or general associated pathology Routine ophthalmic examination was performed before and after treatment. At each examination was performed Schirmer 1 test and break up time test. Conjunctival cytology specimen was taken and goblet cells density evaluated.

RESULTS: There was statistically significant difference in goblet cell density Schirmer 1 test and BUT test before and after treatment (p<0.05). For the both groups the decrease of IOP was similar (from 23.7+/-1.5 mmHg to 15.4+/-1.7 mmHg in group I and from 24.3+/-1.5 mmHg to 15.8+/-1.7 mmHg in group II).

CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that travoprost 0.004% and latanoprost 0.005% treatment can have adverse effects on ocular surface and may give rise to dry eye symptoms.

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