Medication Effectiveness
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• The eye pressure readings are the only way one can tell
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• Some report improvements in their vision, including:
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Ability to read (small print) without glasses
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Vision is clearer/not as blurred or cloudy
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Distance vision is clearer
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Able to see better at night
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Unintended Medication Effects
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• Burning, Itching, Grittiness/Sandiness, Dryness, Tearing of eyes
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• Redness of eye, Darkening of iris of eyes
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• Swelling, Crustiness, Stickiness of eyelids
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• Visual Changes (e.g., "clear ropes" in eyes, loss of center of vision, sensitivity to light)
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• Systemic affects associated with allergenic reaction or use of oral treatments: shortness of breath, restlessness/inability to sleep, excessive perspiration, low energy, migraines
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Convenience and Ease of Medication Use
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• Discomfort putting things in eyes
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• Strong "blink reflex" making it difficult to instill the drops
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• Difficulty learning to instill drops
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• Miss the eye when administering the medicine
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• Unable to feel whether a drop has gone into their eye
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• Inadvertently dispense more than one drop, or dispense just one more to be sure
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• Require assistance if elderly or physically impaired (e.g., have Parkinson's)
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• Trouble remembering to use the medicine, particularly on trips or vacations
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• Instillation twice a day, this is less convenient than once
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• Frustration with the daily dosing and, as a result, sometimes not taking their medicine
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• More inconvenient to administer evening than morning doses, sometimes too tired in evening
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• Delay taking medication in evening till returning home
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• Difficult to tell when their medicine is about to run out
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