Introduction
Allergies such as hay fever are often accompanied by disturbing symptoms in the eye area. Itching as well as watery reddened eyes can significantly affect everyday life. There are therefore various eye drop preparations that can help to alleviate these symptoms. They contain various anti-allergic agents. Most of them are available without a prescription in pharmacies.
These active ingredients help against the allergy
Various groups of active ingredients are used in the form of eye drops to treat allergic symptoms in the eye. – A typical group of active ingredients are the so-called mast cell stabilizers. In the case of an allergy, an activation of the immune system leads to the activation of so-called mast cells in the body.
This leads to a release of messenger substances such as histamine, which triggers the typical allergic symptoms. Drugs from the group of mast cell stabilizers prevent the activation of mast cells and thus significantly reduce the release of histamine and other messenger substances. A typical drug of this group is cromoglicic acid.
The active ingredient is widely used especially in the form of eye drops and nose drops for anti-allergic treatment. Non-prescription preparations available in pharmacies which contain cromoglicic acid or substances similar to it are, for example, Vividrin ® Eye Drops, CromoHexal ® Eye Drops or Cromo Ratiopharm ® Eye Drops. – Another common group of active ingredients for the treatment of allergic symptoms in the eyes are antihistamines.
They bind to histamine receptors and thus reduce the histamine effect. Typical active ingredients contained in eye drops are for example azelastine, ketotifen or levocabastine. Examples of eye drop preparations containing antihistamines are Vividrin akut ®, Azela-Vision ®, Pollival ®, Zaditen ® and Livocab ® eye drops.
- Eye drops containing cortisone are used less frequently for the treatment of allergic eye symptoms. They contain the active ingredient dexamethasone, for example. The preparation Dexapos ® is an example of this.
Depending on which active ingredient is contained in the eye drops, the mechanism of action of the eye drops differs. What they all have in common is that they reduce the allergic symptoms in the eye. Active ingredients such as cromoglicic acid act via mast cell stabilisation.
They therefore inhibit the release of histamine from the mast cells active during the allergic reaction. As histamine is the main messenger of the allergy cascade, this leads to a significant alleviation of allergy symptoms. Active ingredients from the group of antihistamines such as levocabastine or azelastine act by inhibiting the action of histamine at certain histamine receptors.
The histamine released from mast cells during the allergic reaction can therefore no longer bind sufficiently to its receptors. As a result, histamine is unable to exert its allergic effect sufficiently, so the allergic symptoms are significantly reduced. Eye drops containing cortisone have an anti-inflammatory effect on the eye via various mechanisms and thus also rapidly alleviate the allergic symptoms. You can get an overview here: Eye drops and eye ointments
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