Preservative Allergy Question

[curlygrl31]

Hi,

For anyone who is sensitive to preservatives in eyedrops, what are your symptoms that caused you to come to that conclusion? What happens if you put in drops that contain preservatives?

Curlygrl

[rubyslippers]

I am just a little sensitive to some of them. My dry eye was very light and almost unnoticeable until my bout of Pink Eye in December. The antibiotics did a number on me. My dry eye got very, very severe and I had weeks of inflammation that steroids did not touch. My doctor said it could be the preservatives in it because I have had some other funny reactions to other preserved products. In May I got Pink Eye again, and once again the antibiotic drops started to mess with me on day 4. I got right in and he said the PE was gone and to stop the drops and within 24 hours I was completely fine. Now that we know, I have to be very careful. When I recently got my new contacts, the solution burned in my eye, so now I wet them with perservative-free saline and do just fine. It appears that if my eyes are already annoyed and irritable, anything with preseveratives (including my Soothe drops) will cause me to burn and get red. If it is a very good day, I can use those things once and be fine. If I use more than once it sets off a reaction. I have just had to learn that I have borderline sensitivity and to not push it at all.

[Silverlady]

Me too

My favorite eye drop for convenience and the way it felt was Visine PURE. It has a preservative according to my opthalmic plastic surgeon. I belived it had none. It had the wonderful dispensing top that allows only one drop at a time. Lately it has started burning when I use it. I'm using Theratears right now and the preservative free bothersome expensive vials of Systane (hate it). So I'm searching for a drop again.

Billye

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi,

For anyone who is sensitive to preservatives in eyedrops, what are your symptoms that caused you to come to that conclusion? What happens if you put in drops that contain preservatives?

Curlygrl

Curlygrl, this is a really good question. When it comes right down to it I don't think it's at all easy to pin down exactly what is causing an adverse reaction to a drop from among the possibilities:

• Preservative toxicity
• "Sensitivity" to a preservative
• "Sensitivity" to another ingredient
• Just plain poor lubricating qualities of the drop
• Leaching from overuse of drops
• etc.

Taking a 'common sense' approach, I would think that to get a clearcut answer you'd have to consistently experience the same adverse reaction to multiple drops with the same preservative and which - to the extent possible - do not have other ingredients in common. Not an easy or attractive experiment for people whose eyes are usually in pain anyway. Meantime it's natural to suspect the preservatives first, and it is reasonable to avoid them when possible, but it's helpful to keep in mind the other possibilities as well.