Impact of corneal cross‐linking on topical drug penetration in humans. (17th November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tappeiner, Christoph; Tschopp, Markus; Schuerch, Kaspar; Frueh, Beatrice E.
• Is Part Of: Acta ophthalmologica. Volume 93:Number 5(2015)
• Page Start: e324
• Page End: e327
• Publication Date: 2014-11-17
• Subjects: Ophthalmology -- Periodicals; 617.7005
• DOI: 10.1111/aos.12595
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1755-375X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="aos12595-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <sec id="aos12595-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Purpose</title> <p>To analyse the influence of corneal cross‐linking (CXL) with ultraviolet‐A (UV‐A) and riboflavin on drug permeability in human subjects.</p> </sec> <sec id="aos12595-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>Keratoconus patients (<italic>n</italic> = 23; mean age 26.9 ± 5.8 years) undergoing a standard CXL procedure with UV‐A (5.4 J/cm<sup>2</sup>, 30 min) and riboflavin in one eye were included in the study. The pupillary diameter, measured before and every 3 min for 30 min after the topical application of one drop of 2% pilocarpine, was used as an indirect measure of the corneal permeability. The pupillary diameter was measured with an infrared pupillometer device before (baseline) and 4 months after CXL.</p> </sec> <sec id="aos12595-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Prior to pilocarpine application, no significant difference in the pupillary diameter was detected before CXL and 4 months later. The mean decrease in the pupillary diameter after the application of pilocarpine was similar at baseline and the 4‐month follow‐up visit: mean decreases of 3.9 and 3.7 mm were observed 30 min after pilocarpine application, respectively (p > 0.05).</p> </sec> <sec id="aos12595-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>No significant influence of CXL on the corneal penetration of topically applied pilocarpine was observed in this clinical study.</p> </sec> </abstract>