Methods for reducing postoperative intraocular pressure

Abstract

Hyaluronic acid is commonly used as a spacer in eye surgeries such as cataract surgery, intraocular lens surgery, corneal transplant surgery and some types of glaucoma surgery. One common side effect of these surgical procedures is a postoperative rise in intraocular pressure which can be serious and can cause permanent loss of function of optic nerve fibers and, therefore, loss of visual field function as well as visual acuity function. Intraoperative and postoperative rises in intraocular pressure also occur in vitreous, retina and other posterior segment surgeries. Methods are provided for reducing the postoperative intraocular pressure in an eye to normal preoperative levels while maintaining the therapeutic effects of the hyaluronic acid. One method comprises anesthetizing the eye at the start of the surgical procedure, administering to the eye substantially concurrently amounts of hyaluronic acid and hyaluronidase and leaving the hyaluronic acid and hyaluronidase in the eye after the operative procedure.

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