Lubrithal (Leo viscous eye gel), precorneal residence time in normal and dry eyes

In an open, right/left controlled study we compared the effects of topical carbomer gel Lubrithal (Leo viscous eye gel) and polyvinyl alcohol (Liquifilm, Allergan) in 20 patients with dry eyes and in 20 healthy subjects. The average precorneal residence time of carbomer gel in patients and healthy subjects was 92.8 min (+/- 35.7) and 36.5 min (+/- 14.2), respectively, while it was 40.8 min (+/- 19.4) and 19.5 min (+/- 8.3) in the polyvinyl alcohol group. The tear break up time was 10 min after instillation significantly longer with the carbomer gel: 23.0 seconds (+/- 5.5) in dry eye patients and 26.2 seconds (+/- 4.4) in healthy subjects compared to polyvinyl alcohol: 10.4 seconds (+/- 3.4) in dry eye patients and 16.5 seconds (+/- 7.1) in healthy subjects (p < 0.001). Seventy-five per cent of the dry eye patients preferred Lubrithal.