Netarsudil and Puncta

One of the things about glaucoma eye drops is that they can be pretty nasty to the surface of the eye. Unfortunately, we mostly have to live with this for our glaucoma patients, because the alternative to taking drops is often progressive vision loss to the level of no light perception.

A relatively new glaucoma eye drop, netarsudil, was recently reported to cause punctal stenosis by Dr. Thomas Meirick and colleagues. The puncta are little holes in the eyelids by which the tears drain from the eye into the nose. Netarsudil, like other glaucoma medications, causes inflammation of the surfaces it touches, and that inflammation can lead to closure of the punctum. The study in the journal Ophthalmology also suggests that patients can demonstrate reversal of the punctal stenosis after stopping the eye drop.