Evaluation of 0.2% brimonidine eye drops compared to 0.025% naphazoline + 0.3% pheniramine in strabismus surgery

ABSTRACT

Objective:  To evaluate the effect of 0.2% brimonidine eye drops in reducing hyperemia and ocular bleeding during strabismus surgeries, in comparison with 0.025% naphazoline + 0.3% pheniramine eye drops.

Methods:  Fourteen patients with strabismus and indication for bilateral surgical correction were evaluated. Before the procedure, the eye drops were instilled randomly in each eye of the evaluated patients. The subjective analysis of conjunctival hyperemia and perioperative bleeding was performed in a double-blind manner, by 02 surgeons. The objective assessment of the level of conjunctival hyperemia was performed by analyzing the images obtained using the ImageJ® software.

Results:  The analysis of multivariate mixed effect models indicated statistically significant differences between the groups in relation to hyperemia (rater 2) and intraoperative bleeding (raters 1 and 2) with higher scores in cases treated with naphazoline + pheniramine eye drops. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the objective analysis of color saturation obtained by the ImageJ® program.

Conclusion:  Brimonidine eye drops may be superior to naphazoline + pheniramine eye drops in reducing bleeding, taking into account the subjective analysis only.

Keywords: Strabismus; Brimonidine tartrate; Hyperemia; Hemorrhage; Ophthalmologic surgical procedures