Effect of oxymetazoline nasal spray on intraocular pressure and retrobulbar hemodynamics

To determine the effect of oxymetazoline nasal spray on intraocular pressure and retrobulbar hemodynamics in patients with open-angle glaucoma and to compare the results with those measured in healthy control participants.

Controlled, prospective clinical trial.

University hospital.

Thirty patients with open-angle glaucoma and 30 healthy volunteers as controls were topically self-administered oxymetazoline nasal spray three times a day (one spray in each nostril of 0.05% concentration) for 5 days continuously.

Intraocular pressure and retrobulbar hemodynamics were measured in glaucomatous and normal eyes at baseline and at the end of oxymetazoline application .

Oxymetazoline nasal spray lowered intraocular pressure significantly in both the glaucoma group (p = .02) and the control group (p = .001) after 5 days of treatment. The systemic parameters in the glaucoma and control groups (systolic blood pressure, p = .14 and p = .17; diastolic blood pressure, p = .18 and p = .49; and pulse rate, p = .06 and p = .50, respectively) did not show statistically significant differences during the study period. Additionally, except with a significant decrease in the resistivity index of the central retinal artery in the glaucoma patients (p = .001), oxymetazoline nasal spray did not result in any significant changes in the retrobulbar hemodynamics in both the glaucoma and control groups.

This study showed that a 5-day treatment with oxymetazoline nasal spray reduced intraocular pressure in both healthy controls and patients with glaucoma under treatment. In addition, it had no significant adverse effects on the retrobulbar hemodynamics.