Comparison of Osmolarity & pH for 24 OTC Artificial Tear Products

[Blinks]

Found a very helpful chart listing 24 over-the-counter dry eye products including the active ingredient, preservative, pH, and Osmolarity:

http://www.singhealthacademy.edu.sg/.../LouisTong.pdf

Source is "Assessment and Management of Dry Eye Patients for Non-Ophthalmic Healthcare Professionals", Authors: Louis Tong, MBBS, FRCS, PhD, et als. Published in Proceedings of Singapore Healthcare, Volume 21, Number 1, 2012.

Hope this is helpful.

Blinks

[spmcc]

Interesting to have a chart that includes osmolarity/osmolality of the drops. Unfortunately, the chart doesn't include Muro drops (what I use) or Blink drops. Blink is what all the TearLab places are recommending after people have the TearLab Osmolarity Test done. Maybe it's not available in Singapore.

Also interesting is what the authors write on page 19:

there is evidence to show that eye drops only transiently change tear osmolarity

[alisonW]

Nice link - thanks for posting. One question - my brain must not be functioning well right now because although I've read the entire link I can't figure out if a lower number or higher osmolarity number is what we should be looking for in drops. Can someone help me out? Thanks.

[Blinks]

Yes, the comment about transient changes is good to understand.

I noticed the DEWS report suggests >312 tear osmolarity is an indicator of dry eye, so my thinking is to use a lower osmolarity artificial tear product. It may not reduce the hyperosmolarity, but it would seem a healthier choice, after first excluding products with BAK and other preservatives.

The osmolarity discussion in this forum prompted me to try to learn about osmolarity as I'm just starting my dry eye "education"

Thanks for your comment on TearLab and Blink Intensive drops. Will do some additional reading on that.

I liked the idea of knowing the osmolarity of the product I'm putting in my eyes! Thanks for posting.

[indrep]

An FYI
Be aware that the company that makes Blink, might have some ownership in the TearLab distribution in Canada.