Effects of preservatives used in ocular medications on the eye: a comparative review

Abstract

Preservatives are added to eye drops in order to increase the shelf life of these medications. However, these preservatives may have some adverse effects on the eye. Various adverse effects of preserved ocular medications have been pointed out by multiple investigators time and again. These preservatives are added to most ocular medicines in today’s practice. Given the fact that many patients need to instill these medications for long periods, such as anti-glaucoma medications, the adverse effects of these preservatives need to be taken into account. Benzalkonium chloride is the most widely used preservative in ocular medications and has a lot of adverse effects. Various other alternative preservatives have been developed in more recent times. In this article, a broad overview regarding various researches exploring the different adverse effects of these preservatives has been compiled and presented comparatively.