Lubrithal^® (Leo viscous eye gel), precorneal residence time in normal and dry eyes

In an open, right/left controlled study we compared the effects of topical carbomer gel Lubrithal^® (Leo viscous eye gel) and polyvinyl alcohol (Liquifilm^®, Allergan) in 20 patients with dry eyes and in 20 healthy subjects. The average precorneal residence time of carbomer gel in patients and healthy subjects was 92.8 min (± 35.7) and 36.5 min (± 14.2), respectively, while it was 40.8 min (± 19.4) and 19.5 min (± 8.3) in the polyvinyl alcohol group. The tear break up time was 10 min after instillation significantly longer with the carbomer gel: 23.0 seconds (± 5.5) in dry eye patients and 26.2 seconds (± 4.4) in healthy subjects compared to polyvinyl alcohol: 10.4 seconds (± 3.4) in dry eye patients and 16.5 seconds (± 7.1) in healthy subjects (p <0.001). Seventy-five per cent of the dry eye patients preferred Lubrithal^®.