Eyeworld Supplements

allergy season before pollen counts become high and bothersome. "I can't avoid allergens that well, but I can treat myself," he said. "Prophylaxis therapy is something to think about prior to exposure. Cold compresses can be useful to feel better and wash out the tears. Most of the antihistamines make me dry, and dry eye is one of the issues we need to deal with. I find that I only use two drugs for myself and two drugs for my patients: a mast cell stabilizer antihistamine and occasionally a topical steroid." as Dr. Lindstrom is "extremely allergic" to cats. He can't, however, live a feline-free life as his mother-in-law has a cat. "If I take a single drop of a mast cell stabilizer antihistamine before I [visit my mother-in-law], I'm totally asymptomatic. If I go without doing that and try to catch up afterward, it's very difficult and sometimes requires topical steroids for me," he said. Because of this, Dr. Lindstrom is an advocate for using prescription drops such as Bepreve for prophylaxis to save patients "from a lot of trouble." He also starts the drops during the July 2012 3 The three main prescription drugs in this class are Bepreve, Pataday (olopatadine, Alcon, Forth Worth, Texas), and Lastacaft (alcaftadine, Allergan, Irvine, Calif.). Dr. Lindstrom prefers Bepreve, he said, for a number of reasons such as value, efficacy, and safety, although he acknowledged that Pataday "is a great drug" also. "One of the key issues to look at is what do you get when you write a prescription for Bepreve?" he asked. "You get 10 mL, and with prophylaxis one drop is often enough. So 10 mL is a pretty good value versus 2.5 mL for Pataday and 3 mL for Lastacaft. The sample of Bepreve is as large as the prescription for Pataday. Value as far as cost per drop [for Bepreve] is pretty good as long as it's a potent drug, and it turns out Bepreve is a potent drug." Bepreve is more effective than other drugs in treating nasal conges- tion and rhinorrhea, he said. It's also "extremely safe," Dr. Lindstrom said. "One thing I like about this drug is it doesn't seem to make dry eye worse. It's nice to have something where you don't have to worry about making dry eye worse." Although Dr. Lindstrom acknowl- edged that many ophthalmologists use Pataday "with great effect," the cost per drop is significantly higher than Bepreve. Lastacaft has similar value issues and isn't as comfortable as the other two drops, he said. Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 ISTA supplement_EW July 2012-DL2_Layout 1 6/3/14 2:44 PM Page 4

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