A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE CHANGES (OCCURING AS A SIDE EFFECT) IN LONG TERM TREATMENT OF VERNAL KERATO CONJUNCTIVITIS BY TOPICAL FLUROMETHOLONE 0.1% AND TOPICAL LOTEPREDNOL ETABONATE 0.5%

Abstract

PURPOSE: The study aims to evaluate the safety of topical corticosteroids Loteprednol and Flurometholone in treating VKC keeping in mind the efcacy of the drugs. METHOD: A prospective study was done including 200 eyes of 107 patients with severe VKC (grade 3,4). 7 patients were lost during follow up. Patients were selected randomly. 100 eyes of 50 patients were treated with Flurometholone 1% and another 100 eyes of 50 patients with Loteprednol 0.5%. All patients were followed up over a period of 3 months. The study duration is 18 months. RESULT: The normal IOP ranging between 10-21 mm Hg. Out of 100 eyes receiving urometholone in the study period of 18 months, 3 eyes (3%) showed IOP ≥ 30mm Hg and 5 eyes (5%) showed IOP between 21-30mm Hg. Out of the rest 100 eyes receiving Loteprednol, 3 eyes (3%) showed IOP between 21-30 mm Hg while none (0%) reached an IOP over 30 mm Hg. CONCLUSION: Loteprednol is more effective than Flurometholone and it consistently demonstrated a low propensity to elevate IOP, regardless of formulation, dosage regimen both during short term as well as long term treatment of VKC patient.