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BAK may increase chance of corneal damage, conjunctival cell infiltration

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Glaucoma medications with lower levels of benzalkonium chloride or alternative preservatives may help preserve ocular health, according to an animal study.

Robert Noecker, MD, MBA, and colleagues randomized 30 eyes of 15 rabbits to one of six treatment groups for 30 days: artificial tears, brimonidine Purite 0.15%, bimatoprost 0.03%, dorzolamide 2%, timolol maleate 0.5% or latanoprost 0.005%. Corneal damage was evaluated, as was conjunctival inflammation.

Artificial tears produced significantly less damage than dorzolamide or latanoprost. Brimonidine produced significantly less damage than dorzolamide, timolol or latanoprost. The mean damage scores were significantly lower with bimatoprost than with dorzolamide, timolol or latanoprost.

In the conjunctiva, eyes treated with artificial tears or brimonidine Purite had significantly fewer inflammatory cells in the epithelium than eyes treated with timolol or latanoprost.

The study is published in the July issue of Cornea.