treatment
Eye drops for allergy
You may be suffering from hay fever, or a reaction to another allergen leading to sneezing and streaming. There’s an array of allergy eye drops and treatments available, so let our resident pharmacist take you through where to start and how to choose between them.
What can you find here?
Tablets or eye drops?
You may have no other symptoms alongside your itchy or streaming eyes, in which case eye drops are a good place to start. If you have more generalized symptoms, then anti-allergy tablets, also known as antihistamines, can be a useful addition too. They aim to reduce the overall immune response, which is driven by the release of histamine from mast cells.
Over-the-counter options
Antihistamine eye drops such as ketotifen (Alaway, Zaditor) and olopatadine (Pataday) are available. Ketotifen can be used twice a day and is safe for children down to 3 years of age. Pataday comes in a twice-a-day formulation and two strengths of a once-a-day formulation. It is safe for children down to 2 years of age.
Other options
Cromolyn sodium 4%, such as Opticrom eye drops, is available by prescription for those aged 4 and above. This active ingredient is not classed as an antihistamine but works to reduce the release of histamine in the eyes and suppress allergy symptoms there. It’s applied four times a day, and can be used as a standalone treatment or alongside oral antihistamines.
Was this helpful?
