A Narrative Review of Ocular Surface Disease Related to Anti-Glaucomatous Medications

Abstract

Topical anti-glaucomatous medications are still the most important measure to lower intraocular pressure. Large number of studies have confirmed that long-term use of anti-glaucomatous eye drops, especially containing benzalkonium chloride, a preservative, can cause or aggravate ocular surface injury. Ocular surface diseases damage the ocular microenvironmental health status, reduce the patients’ compliance with the treatment, and finally affect the treatment result. Therefore, the ocular surface management of patients with glaucoma is very important. This includes the selection of drugs that are better tolerated according to individual conditions, preservative-free formulations, drugs that protect against ocular surface disease, or selecting surgery and laser treatment, to prevent the damage to the ocular surface by topical anti-glaucomatous drugs.