Patients must have a thorough, dilated eye exam before obtaining a prescription of Vuity
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
Are you “playing trombone” with your phone or reading materials?
Perhaps you’ve bought a pair of reading glasses—or two or three—and still never manage to have them when you need them.
Now you have another option: VUITY (pilocarpine hydrochloride ophthalmic solution).
The FDA-approved prescription eye drop can help correct age-related blurry near vision (presbyopia) in 45- to 55-year-olds.
Patients use it once daily and can gain improvement in their near vision by three lines on an eye chart.
Those who wear contact lenses for their far vision can use VUITY if they wait at least 10 minutes between administering the drops and putting in their contact lenses. Contact lenses tend to absorb chemicals, including medication.
Within about 15 to 30 minutes of using the drops, patients experience a notable improvement of their near vision that peaks for one to two hours.
For the next three to 10 hours, the effect dissipates. This could help someone on the go who does not want to bother carrying reading glasses all the time.
While Franklin S. Senia, optometrist and president of Eye To Eye Optical Inc. in Amherst, notes benefits to VUITY, he remains cautious about its adoption, since it constricts the pupil of the eye.
“You’re playing with the dynamics of how the eye is working,” Senia said. “Long-term, I don’t know how that would affect the patient. Anytime you introduce a drug into the eye, the eye tends to adapt to that drug.”
As an example, he cited over-the-counter eye drops for redness. After months of habitual usage, the eyes become accustomed to the drops.
“When they stop using them, the eyes engorge themselves with blood, anticipating you’re going to put this drug in,” Senia said. “It’s counterproductive. The eye figures it out.”
He speculated if VUITY may have a similar effect on the eye: developing eventual adaptation.
“You’d be amazed at the number of things the FDA has approved that have been removed, even five or 10 years later, after they discover it has had complications,” Senia said.
VUITY should not be used before nighttime driving since it allows less light into the eye.
Insurance does not cover VUITY and its effectiveness varies among patients.
Therese Farugia, optometrist with UR Medicine’s Flaum Eye Institute, said that for those who are very far sighted, “it may not help as much. It gives a very good depth of focus, so it depends on how much the pupil constricts.”
She noted that patients interested in VUITY must have a thorough, dilated eye exam before obtaining a prescription for the drops.
“It can cause redness,” Farugia said. “It’s a mild drop, but when you constrict a pupil, you’re at a higher risk for a retinal detachment.”
Important Safety Information
Do not use VUITY if you are allergic to any of the ingredients.
Use caution when driving at night or performing hazardous activities in poor lighting.
Temporary problems when changing focus between near and distant objects may occur. Do not drive or use machinery if vision is not clear.
Seek immediate medical care if you experience any sudden vision loss.
If you wear contact lenses, they should be removed prior to VUITY use. Wait 10 minutes after dosing before reinserting contact lenses.
Do not touch the dropper tip to any surface as this may contaminate the contents.
If more than one topical eye medication is being used, the medicines must be administered at least five minutes apart.
The most common side effects are headache and eye redness.
These are not all the possible side effects of VUITY.
Source: www.vuity.com