Effective Local Action

• Certain ailments affect the membranes located within the eye. Pain or a pricking sensation, dry eyes, inflammation and infection within the eye require treatment with appropriate medication. For example, topical anesthetics help to relieve pain in the eye whereas antihistamine compounds are useful in treating allergies of the eye. Administering these compounds through ophthalmic dosage forms such as solutions, suspensions, gels or ointments serves to provide the medicament directly to the site where it needs to act. This results in effective local action, providing rapid relief from symptoms.
  
  

Better Bioavailability

• The term bioavailability refers to the amount of drug that is actually available for action at the site of action. When a medication is administered orally, it has to first pass through the gastrointestinal tract and then withstand the action of metabolic reactions in the intestine and liver before reaching the site of action through systemic circulation. This often reduces the bioavailability of orally administered drugs. In contrast to this, drugs that are directly instilled into the eye have much greater bioavailability. This is the reason why, for example, treatment of allergic pink eye with Olopatadine Ophthalmic Solution is more effective than taking any other antihistamine orally.
  
  

Variety of Dosage Forms

• Several drugs can be formulated into dosage forms for application to the eye. These include antihistamines, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, topical anesthetics, antibiotics and steroids. These drugs differ in their physicochemical properties such as solubility, ionization constant and dissolution rate and permeability characteristics. Considering the chemical nature of a particular active ingredient, it is possible to formulate it into an appropriate dosage form such as a solution, suspension, gel or ointment.
  
  

Convenience of Use

• Ophthalmic dosage forms are held in easy-to-use containers that make it convenient for patients to use. This ensures better patient compliance since it is possible to self-administer the medicament. The containers are also small and lightweight, making them easy for patients to carry in a handbag or a briefcase. Newer types of ophthalmic inserts provide controlled release of the drug over an extended period of time and reduce the need for repeated dosing at frequent intervals.