Ocular hypertension management in long-term treatments with intravitreal dexamethasone implants: a 3-year experience.

Purpose: A commonly recognized complication of intravitreal steroids is ocular hypertension (OHT).The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy in controlling this side effect, even in patients receiving sequential injections.

Methods: A total of 146 injections were performed on 78 patients over 3 years. 78 eyes were treated with 1 injection, 44 eyes were treated with 2 injections; 24 eyes were treated with 3 injections. The intravitreal corticosteroid used in this observational study is 0.7mg dexamethasone, commercially known as 0.7mg Ozurdex®.

Results: Following the first injection, mean intraocular pressure (IOP) increased by 1,90 mmHg. Following the second injection, mean IOP increased by 0.23 mmHg. Following the third injection, there was no statistically significant change. Patients with IOP >= 21mmHg (7% of all participants) were started on topical pressure-lowering medications.

Conclusions: Intravitreal dexamethasone implants increased IOP of variable degrees in different patients. However, secondary OHT was effectively controlled with pharmacotherapy alone. This allowed for continuation of dexamethasone therapy.