[Continuous anti-glaucoma drug therapy as a risk factor of dry eye]

A preservative is a mandatory component of the eye drops designed to prevent microbial contamination in an opened bottle. Most of the preservative agents are either detergents, or oxidants; the most widely used and well-studied preservative - benzalkonium chloride - is a detergent. Due to regular usage of glaucoma eye drops, cytotoxic impact of the preservatives on anterior eye surface is considered the principal cause of its pathology, which leads to a decrease in quality of life. The high cost of preservative-free pharmacological forms and the complicated process of developing new preservatives make the usage of eye drops with minimal required concentration of preservative agent and a moistening component a good compromise. The most commonly utilized moistening component is polyvinyl alcohol - synthetic polymeric hydrogel, which is also used in artificial tears and bioengineering.