Prevalence of self-medication use, and the attitude and practices toward traditional eye medicines regarding eye symptoms

Abstract

Background: Self-medication is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the selection and use of medicines by individuals to treat self-recognized illnesses or symptoms [4]. Use of traditional eye medicines or ophthalmic medicines without the supervision of an ophthalmologist may have adverse effects on the patient’s visual outcome. It is well known that this attitude and practice carries pharmacological and toxicological risks, such as a delayed diagnosis or inappropriate treatment, causing side-effects, intoxication or harmful drug interactions, which can aggravate the individual’s condition and eventually negatively impact the patient’s visual prognosis [5]. Materials and methods: The study was a cross-sectional study. All data was collected using an online self-designed questionnaire that contained demographic data, such as the patient’s age, gender and level of education. There were also questions regarding the knowledge, attitude and practice of using over-the-counter (OTC) eye medication and TEM use among the Saudi population living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Result: The study sample included 894 respondents. Results showed that in the past 12 months, only 6.82% of respondents used eye medications without visiting an ophthalmologist. The most common self-prescribed medications were anti-allergic and antibiotics. The results revealed that 148 respondents had previously used TEMs (16.4%). The majority of respondents (86.6%) preferred medications over TEM to treat eye diseases. Key words: self-medication, traditional eye medication, Saudi Arabia, ophthalmology, eye