Many of you may have heard of the recently FDA approved eye drop, named Vuity which is being used as a treatment for presbyopia, commonly known as farsightedness in adults. The goal of Alergan was to create a possible replacement for reading glasses for adults. Interestingly enough, the active ingredient in Vuity is pilocarpine hydrochloride, a medication which has been used for over a 100 years to treat glaucoma patients (1). Pilocarpine is a potent miotic that acts in constricting the pupils and allowing excess fluid to drain from the eye. The narrowing of the pupils in this case serves to allow patients to be able to read nearby texts, in theory replacing reading glasses. This begs to question whether there are possible side effects of Vuity eye drops. Patients who are developing cataracts and are already experiencing dim lighting may find that their situation can worsen, since their pupils will be shrinking using the eyedrops. Although rare, some patients may also experience reduced clarity of distance vision . Pilocarpine is used less frequently today to treat glaucoma patients due to availability of more effective medication with less side effects (2)(3). Having this in mind, the best treatment for farsightedness still remains the usage of reading glasses.
References:
Rosin A (1991). "[Pilocarpine. A miotic of choice in the treatment of glaucoma has passed 110 years of use]". Oftalmologia (in Romanian). 35 (1): 53–5. PMID 1811739
Bruce H. Grahn, Joe Wolfer, in Small Animal Ophthalmology (Fourth Edition), 2009
Lusthaus J, Goldberg I (March 2019). "Current management of glaucoma" (PDF). The Medical Journal of Australia. 210 (4): 180–187. doi:10.5694/mja2.50020. PMID 30767238. S2CID 73438590.
Szentecyclolabhu, and Nouf Abdullh Says: “Pilocarpine Eye Drops (Vuity).” Cyclodextrin News, 17 Dec. 2021, https://cyclodextrinnews.com/
