Glaucoma
Cosopt
Lumigan
Question
Hi,
I need to arrange help for my relative to take her eye drops and seek advice on timing.
My newly widowed relative lives 100 miles away. She has Cosopt prescribed twice daily and Lumigan prescribed at bedtime. She has never managed to take the drops on her own and is not able or minded to learn now at 90 years.
Her late husband administered the drops at 9-10am, 4-5pm and 9-10pm.
A neighbor is currently doing this temporarily until we can set up carers. The neighbor finds the evening visit particularly disruptive and although it is clearly a social benefit I am not clear on the medical need.
We understand that there must be a gap between the Cosopt and the Lumigan; but how far apart does this need to be?
For example; could a carer come at 9am and 5pm and administer both Cosopt at 5pm and Lumigan at 5:10pm?
Would this make TV viewing difficult in the evening or is there any danger?
Thanks
Answer
Thanks for your question
Lumigan should be taken at night because many studies showed that the anti-glaucoma action of Lumigan are maximum at night. At night means after 7 pm.
The gap or duration between eye drops should be at least 5-10 minutes and there is no need to wait for 1 hour between anti-glaucoma medications. If you apply Cosopt around 6 pm you can apply Lumigan at 6:05. This gap is very important because less than 5 minutes gap the second eye drops will washout the first eye drops.
Eye drops application can cause blurred vision for few seconds and sometimes minutes. Lumigan can cause irritation and mild redness of the eye after application but it goes away after a while.