This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (3)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Cataracts/ Lens  • Drug Therapy  • Adverse Effects  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Arch Ophthalmol. 2003;121:892-893.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

AS ANYONE who has examined a dirty eyedropper bottle retrieved from deep within a patient's pocket or purse knows, the preservatives added to the formulation of antiglaucoma medications play a crucial role in preventing ocular infection among patients receiving long-term therapy. The preservatives must have sufficiently broad spectrum to prevent the growth of bacteria, fungi, and other pathogenic organisms in multidose bottles opened and stored under less than ideal conditions. In many cases, the preservative must remain potent for many months.

The quaternary ammonium compound benzalkonium chloride (BAK) has served our patients well since shortly after mass-produced ophthalmic pharmaceuticals were introduced some 50 years ago. Benzalkonium provided the pharmaceutical industry with an inexpensive, broad-spectrum preservative that had the added benefit of enhancing the penetration of many drugs across the intact cornea. Despite BAK allergy in some patients and concerns about the adverse effect of BAK on the conjunctival epithelium¹ (and . . . [Full Text of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Human Lens Epithelial Cell Damage and Stimulation of Their Secretion of Chemical Mediators by Benzalkonium Chloride Rather Than Latanoprost and Timolol
Yoko Goto, Nobuhiro Ibaraki, and Kensaku Miyake
Arch Ophthalmol. 2003;121(6):835-839.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Effect of trabeculectomy on lens opacities in an East Asian population.
Husain et al.
Arch Ophthalmol 2006;124:787-792.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT