Side Effects for Taking Dorzolamide Hydrochloride

The Glaucoma Research Foundation reports that over 4 million Americans suffer from increased pressure in the eye, known as glaucoma. Untreated, glaucoma causes blindness in some patients and is the second leading cause of blindness in the world. There are a number of treatments available to help decrease the pressure in your eyes to slow the effects of glaucoma, including the prescription eye drop dorzolamide hydrochloride or Trusopt. Despite its effectiveness, dorzolamide is not for everyone as it presents several risks for side effects and complications in some patients.

Common Side Effects

• One-third of dorzolamide users report burning or stinging immediately after using the eye drops, making this the most common side effect of the drug. A bitter taste after administering the drops is also common, occurring in 25 percent of users. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of patients who take dorzolamide develop superficial punctate keratitis, a condition that causes watering of the eyes, redness and sensitivity to the light.

Other Ocular Side Effects

• Dorzolamide hydrochloride has the potential to cause a number of other side effects to the eyes. Approximately 10 percent of users develop itching or redness due to an allergy to the drops. Between 1 and 5 percent of users describe either excessive tears or dryness. In some patients, dorzolamide affects the quality of sight, causing double vision or blurriness. Infrequently, patients experience pain or tenderness around and behind the eyes. More serious side effects to the eyes are also possible, such as an increased incidence of bacterial or viral infections and swelling of your eyelids.

Other Side Effects

• Besides those that affect your eyes, dorzolamide eye drops sometimes cause other symptoms to develop. Some patients develop nausea or headaches related to use of the drug. Neurological symptoms occur in less than 1 percent of users and include dizziness, tingling in the extremities and fatigue. In rare cases, coughing, dry mouth or throat and shortness of breath occur while taking dorzolamide hydrochloride drops. Infrequently, use of dorzlamide results in potentially life-threatening infections of the skin such as Stevens-Johnson syndrome or toxic epidermal necrolysis. Additionally, some patients experience aplastic anemia or a shortage of red blood cells, causing extreme weakness, heartbeat irregularity and easy bruising.

Drug Interactions

• Like other medications used to treat glaucoma, there are some medications which produce unwanted side effects when used in conjunction with dorzolamide. For example, taking the epilepsy drug phenytoin with the drops results in seizures in some patients. Additionally, dorzolamide causes the malaria drug quinidine and all amphetamine drugs to remain in your body for a prolonged period of time, increasing your risk of developing side effects from those drugs.

Considerations

• Because dorzolamide causes toxic effects upon the fetus, doctors rarely prescribe the drops for pregnant women. If you have a history of kidney or liver disease, your doctor will most likely not prescribe dorzolamide for you due to its potential to cause complications to your condition. Similarly, the eye drops contribute to the formation of kidney stones. Since it has the potential to impact your vision, you should not operate a motor vehicle or heavy machinery until you know how dorzolamide hydrochloride will affect you.