Aqueous chlorhexidine may be better tolerated than povidone-iodine
WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — A study found that patients were less comfortable when receiving povidone-iodine as ocular antisepsis before an intravitreal injection compared with aqueous chlorhexidine, a speaker reported at Retina 2022.
Sunir J. Garg, MD, FACS, co-director of retina research at Wills Eye Hospital, presented results of a prospective, double-armed interventional study that compared povidone-iodine 5% with aqueous chlorhexidine 0.1% in 100 eyes of 50 patients undergoing same-day bilateral intravitreal injections. One eye of each patient received povidone-iodine while the other eye received aqueous chlorhexidine.
“Most patients didn’t have any pain from either eye drop, but for about half the patients who did have pain, it was from povidone-iodine,” Garg said.
According to the presentation, 19 of 24 patients (79%) who reported pain had greater pain with povidone-iodine; 13 of 18 patients (72%) who reported pain on day 1 had greater pain with povidone-iodine.
Garg also reported that eyes that received povidone-iodine had a higher ocular surface score compared with those that received aqueous chlorhexidine.
Both agents had similar efficacy rates on microbiological testing.
“The take home is that povidone-iodine is less comfortable,” Garg said.
Collapse
Garg SJ. Endophthalmitis projects during the pandemic. Presented at: Retina 2022; Jan. 15-21, 2022; Waikoloa, Hawaii.
Read more about