Brimonidine / brinzolamide ophthalmic and Burning: What Users Say

• Pok...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 28, 2018

For Glaucoma, Open Angle "I've been on glaucoma drops for over 25 years. Without a doubt, Simbrinza is the most obnoxious med I've taken. Here's what I experience with every application: 1. Instantly clouds my vision - usually for a minute or so. 2. Blurs my vision next: this usually lasts about 10 minutes. 3. Burns, but this is the least of my complaints. 4. Dries my eyes out terribly; worse than other glaucoma meds. 5. Makes my eyes light sensitive. 6. With the bedtime application, I usually wake up the next morning with all manner of crusty stuff in the corners of my eyes. Sometimes that gets under the lid and because of dry eye, feels like a boulder in there. It does keep my pressure low, but I've never had issues with super-high pressure, anyway."

• MWM...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• February 21, 2019

For Glaucoma, Open Angle "Medication works well in reducing pressures and doesn't have some of the side effects of other drops (skin darkening, eye color change, etc.). Sometimes it makes my eyes burn a little, sometimes a little red. The most troublesome side effect is that 2-3 hours after I instill the drops, I start to feel super fatigued. Vitals when this happens-HR 60-64, O2 sats 100, and B/P is in the low 90s over high 50s. After an hour, I will start to feel more alert and like myself-when I check my BP, it's back to 100s over 70s and then gets back in the 110s over 70s where I like it. I also take Lisinopril and was taking 40 mg/day. I've decreased that to 20 mg/day, split dose, and am staggering it every 6 hours with the Simbrinza drops, which I also use twice daily. Things seem to be stable with this approach. I tried dropping the Lisinopril altogether, but my BP was creeping up to the 130s / 90s. Luckily, this normal tension glaucoma was caught early, and I don't seem to have any peripheral vision changes yet."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 11, 2017

For Glaucoma, Open Angle "I really liked that this medication did not burn, itch, sting, etc. It did not feel like something was in my eye. My only concern was that some pale yellow gooey stuff would collect in the corners of my eyes. I couldn't feel it, but I needed a Q-tip to get it out. Other than that, it was perfect."