Abstract

The mainstay of the treatment of chronic glaucoma is the use of pilocarpine eyedrops. However eyedrops have two major disadvantages; firstly, they need to be instilled 3 or 4 times a day, and non-compliance may lead to dangerously high intra-ocular pressure.¹ Secondly, a large initial dose must be instilled to maintain a satisfactory degree of ocular hypotension for several hours.^{2 3} One drop (0.05 ml) of 2% pilocarpine instilled 4 times a day delivers 28 mg of the drug to each eye over 7 days. This relative overdosage accounts for the side effects of brow-ache, darkening of vision, and myopia that may follow the instillation of pilocarpine eyedrops.^{2 4}