Brimonidine ophthalmic for Glaucoma, Open Angle User Reviews

• Car...
• February 11, 2022

Brimonidine ophthalmic "Horrible, like all the rest I have tried. Same effects as others, intolerable burning, beet red eyes, itching, blurring, rapid heartbeat, swollen upper eyelids, pouches and discoloration below eyes, loss of hair and eyelashes, on and on. Embarrassing to appear in public. People assume I am either an old lush or smoking too much pot. Not to mention my bald spots. You need to update your responses, what occurred in 2016 may be different than 2022. I think we need to band together and fight the big pharmas. Many dollars for eye drops that are toxic to your system? One prescription cost $500 for a 2-month supply. I had to discard it. My skin burned like fire. I have gone through this list of drops and not one is safe to use. S.O.S. someone help us!!"

• Anonymous
• November 18, 2009

Brimonidine ophthalmic "Unfortunately, the drug was not very effective for me. I experienced side effects, such as eye irritation, itchy eyes, minor swelling, and minor blistering. This medicine did not reduce my eye pressure."

• Cou...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• March 31, 2016

Brimonidine ophthalmic "I have open-angle glaucoma in both eyes. Alphagan P brought my pressure down in a short length of time. The pressure has stayed at acceptable levels for the past twelve years. I have not had any side effects."

• sai...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• December 16, 2023

Brimonidine ophthalmic "I have been on Alphagan P 0.1% for about 18 months now (there were gaps when my doctor had me try different eye drops - all in the prostaglandin family, which all bothered me a lot). Alphagan (Brimonidine is the generic version) suits me pretty well. I have Normal Tension Glaucoma, before I started on eye drops, my IOP was 15, with treatment, it is down by 1/3rd to 10. The whites of my eyes have some redness and irritation, but nothing like I felt when I tried Xalatan (latanoprost) or Zioptan. I am very careful after I use the drops to rinse my mouth out thoroughly & even gargle, then I also gently rinse my eyelids and lashes with cool water. I do plug the inner corners of my eyes after dosing for 3 minutes to prevent the medication from getting into my sinuses or throat. I prefer the Alphagan P brand name over the generic because the 'P' stands for Purite, which is a much less harmful preservative formula. Allergies to Brimonidine are fairly common, so this drug may not be for everyone."

• Jus...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 23, 2023

Brimonidine ophthalmic "I have been diagnosed with open-angle glaucoma this week. I've been on this medication for 3 days and have no side effects at all. I've had other drops (used for other issues, not glaucoma) that burned and stung, but not this one. I'll have to wait a few weeks to see if it brought the pressure down when they check my pressure. Fingers crossed."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 29, 2017

Brimonidine ophthalmic "After cataract surgery, my eye pressure became elevated and took a long time to get it lower. The eye doctor also said it looked like the muscles around the eye resembled glaucoma and put me on Alphagan for two months. Three weeks on the medicine, my eyes became very sensitive to bright lights, irritated and inflamed with blurred vision. I was put on several other types of eye drops, but they all made it worse, and it has been 7 months since with no relief."

• no ...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• November 5, 2023

Brimonidine ophthalmic "On the Alphagan-P 0.1% morning and evening for 11 months. They are the first ones out of 4 brands that do help with my dry eyes from many hours of daily computer work. I do have a terrible dry mouth side effect, even a dry nose and throat to some degree. The redness in my eyes lowered though. I have a blood pressure of 110/70 and Alphagan-P lowered it down to 50. I could not function in the first week. I could not walk without falling aside. This went away after 7 days or so. My IOP keeps going up over and over again, I even had SLT in 2020 on both eyes and another one on the now glaucoma affected eye in 2023 again. Nothing helps and the blindness in this eye keeps progressing now. It is very sad that one has to start with the China or India made Latanoprost to begin a health insurance coverage. These drops resulted in terrible itching and blurring. I had good vision in 2017, no loss of sight due to glaucoma at all and my IOP used to be 16 to 18. I started losing vision in one eye the next year together with IOP up to 24."

• fly...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• September 17, 2022

Brimonidine ophthalmic "My ophthalmologist started me on brimonidine when he told me that my ocular pressure was too high. Almost immediately, I started to have problems with bright lights when driving after dark. I did some research and determined that this medication, when introduced to the eye, 'the dilator muscle experiences reduced activity, causing less pupil dilation and resulting in a more miotic pupil.' I had night blindness because the doctor failed to consider this activity, and my life changed dramatically."

• Aya...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 7, 2022

"I was diagnosed with low-pressure glaucoma, common in Japanese. I was started on twice-daily application of brimonidine. After less than 10 days of use, my urine output plummeted. Upon finding that adrenergic agonists can cause urine output reduction and consulting with my ophthalmologist, I stopped the eye drop use, and after less than 2 days, my urine output was back to normal. I was switched to another eye drop."

• Soa...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• January 2, 2020

"I have been using brimonidine tartrate 0.15% for many years now, twice a day. It has significantly decreased my intraocular pressure. The only thing it is not helping is my eye redness, which is aggravated by my dry eyes. Also, it is very expensive at CVS for a 90-day supply (around $600-something until I reach our insurance deductible, then I only have to pay 15% of the cost)."

• wil...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 5, 2022

"I have no idea as to the effectiveness, however, let me start with the inconvenience of stopping mid-day, taking out contacts for 20 minutes, reapplying makeup, pinching your tear duct shut, etc. I can understand why people just stop taking it. The three times a day really isn't doable. Second, I believe it is causing nasal congestion and severe dry mouth. I'm going to stick it out for a month to see if it actually lowers the pressure because the Timolol drops had absolutely no impact. Since it doesn't cause any stinging, like the Timolol, I have no idea if the drops are even making it into my eyes."

• Anonymous
• August 3, 2010

Brimonidine ophthalmic "Very strong side effects for me. I experienced blurred vision, dizziness, and fatigue to the extent that I cannot maintain my normal daily activities."

• fjw...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 21, 2014

Brimonidine ophthalmic "Became ineffective within six months and developed an allergic irritance with it."

• Yan...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 31, 2023

"This medication caused eye irritation, redness in the eye, and a swollen eye. I couldn't tolerate the irritation."