Preservative free tafluprost in the medical treatment of POAG in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Introduction: Long term glaucoma therapy results in the deterioration of the anterior surface of the eye that it usually negatively affects adherence to prescribed therapy and its efficacy.
Material and methods: The study included 74patients aged 50-62years with newly diagnosed primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) on initial stage which were divided into two groups: main (52patients with type 2diabetes mellitus) and control (22patients without diabetes mellitus). In both groups patients obtained one instillation of PF Tafluprost 0.0015%(Taflotan®, Santen, Finland) daily. The term of follow up was 12months..
Results: The results demonstrated that using of PF tafluprost drops has a high percentage of safety as regard possible local side effects, high hypotensive efficacy and adherence. During the entire observation period the state of the anterior surface of eyes almost in all cases was comparable with the initial data and the data of questionnaire. Evaluation of the IOP revealed the sufficient level of IOP reduction by 25-30% in all patients. The SAP data showed a slight decrease of MD index at the level of 0.36dB, that according to the 5-th edition of «Terminology and Guidelines for glaucoma» corresponds to the positive dynamics of the course of glaucomatous optic neuropathy in main and control groups.
Conclusions: Long-term use of preservative-free eye drops 0.0015%tafluprost (Taflotan®, Santen, Finland) provided a high hypotensive effect with stable functional state of the optic nerve and safety of the anterior eye surface without the appearance of clinical signs of DED in glaucoma patients with and without 2 type DM.