Dry Eye Symptoms and Ocular Pain in Veterans with Glaucoma

Abstract

Dry eye and glaucoma are two frequently encountered ocular conditions, which can lead to substantial morbidity and decreased quality of life. Patients on topical glaucoma medications are known to be at greater risk for ocular surface symptoms. Veterans seen in the eye clinics at the Miami Veterans Affairs Hospital from January to July 2016 completed surveys assessing dry eye and ocular pain symptoms, including the five item Dry Eye Questionnaire (DEQ5). A total of 62 patients with glaucoma completed the survey. Of those, 52 were on glaucoma medications at the time of the survey, with the majority requiring more than one medication to control intraocular pressure. The frequency of mild or greater dry eye symptoms (defined as DEQ5 >6) tended to increase with increasing medication burden, and patients on brimonidine were more likely to report a DEQ5 >6. Patients on three or more glaucoma medications were more likely to report symptoms of shooting pain, dryness, and itchiness. Patients using timolol were more likely to report throbbing and pain by light, while those on latanoprost reported stinging. Our data support an association between increasing number of glaucoma medications and worsening of dry eye symptoms. Patient and medication-associated symptoms can be used to tailor individual medication regimens.

Assessment of psychosocial impact of primary glaucoma and its effect on quality of life of patients in Western India

“…High prevalence of ocular surface problems due to preservatives and polypharmacy, in patients with glaucoma, has been previously demonstrated in some of the studies. [ 13 24 25 ] Highest scores were seen with color vision (90.1, SD 18.6) and social functions (86.8, SD 20.1). The score for these two entities were minimally affected in mild to moderate diseases, implying that patients do not perceive or report any difficulty with color perception and social interactions in early to moderate disease.…”

Impact of Visual Impairment and Correction on Vision-Related Quality of Life: Comparing People with Different Levels of Visual Acuity in Indonesia

“…Ocular pain is commonly associated with ocular surface disease found in most people with glaucoma. The number of respondents with glaucoma in this study was low, and this might explain the result (Baudouin et al, 2013;Tirpack et al, 2019).…”

Prospective Interventional Cohort Study of Ocular Surface Disease Changes in Eyes After Trabecular Micro-Bypass Stent(s) Implantation (iStent or iStent inject) with Phacoemulsification

“…The same investigators also showed increased inflammatory markers with multiple topical glaucoma medications as compared to monotherapy [7]. Similarly, Rossi et al demonstrated a clear relationship between dry eye disease and number of glaucoma medications, with dry eye present in 11% of eyes on one eyedrop compared to 39% and 43% of eyes on two and three drops, respectively [8].…”

“…However, OSD is more frequent in patients with glaucoma, with reported rates of disease in up to 59% [4] of patients and OSD symptoms in up to 74% of patients [5]. A major reason cited for this higher prevalence is the use of preservative-containing eyedrops, which are known to promote the development or worsening of OSD [6][7][8][9]. Ocular surface disease, in turn, has been shown to reduce patient adherence to therapy [10,11], increase the risk of future glaucoma surgical failure [12,13], and worsen patient quality of life [1,14,15].…”