Ocular Surface and Glaucoma.

Wydanie 3/2021
str. 24 – 25

Autorzy: Małgorzata Mimier-Janczak, Marta Misiuk-Hojło.

Katedra i Klinika Okulistyki Uniwersytetu Medycznego we Wrocławiu
Kierownik kliniki: prof. dr hab. n. med. Marta Misiuk-Hojło

Summary: 

Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness worldwide. Ocular surface disease in patients with coexisting glaucoma occurs at a high frequency, which increases with the patient’s age and the severity of glaucoma. The ocular surface disease is estimated to affect 49% to 59% of patients undergoing topical glaucoma therapy.

The added preservative or the active substance of the anti-glaucoma drug itself may be responsible for the disturbance of ocular surface homeostasis, causing or aggravating an already existing ocular surface disease. Often, patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension require the use of multiple topical medications to lower intraocular pressure, which increases the active substance load and added preservatives.

In the treatment of patients with coexisting glaucoma and the ocular surface disease, eye exposure to benzalkonium chloride should be reduced by using preservative-free anti-glaucoma medications, using anti-glaucoma medications with a lower benzalkonium chloride concentration, or by using alternative preservatives. It should be remembered that in these patients, particular care should be taken to the diagnosis and treatment of eye surface diseases, considering the patient’s lower compliance with anti-glaucoma therapy in the case of accompanying symptoms of the anterior segment of the eye. Increasing the patient’s quality of life through the correct diagnosis of the ocular surface disease improves the results of glaucoma treatment.