The Patient Experience: 5% Povidone-Iodine vs 0.05% Aqueous Chlorhexidine

Aqueous chlorhexidine (aqCHX) is emerging as a safe and potentially gentler alternative to povidone-iodine (PI) for intravitreal injection anti-sepsis. In a single-center patient survey, we compared experiences with PI (141 patients) and aqCHX (92 patients). Patients receiving aqCHX reported less ocular pain or eye irritation than those receiving PI one hour (2.35 vs 1.45, <i>P</i> = .005) and one day (0.79 vs 0.34, <i>P</i> = .027) after their injection. They also described greater satisfaction with the IVI process (9.70 vs. 9.29, <i>P</i> = .014). A lower frequency of participants experienced worsened vision with use of aqCHX (19.6%) vs PI (33.6%, <i>P</i> = .02). This may suggest improved tolerability and patient experience with aqCHX over PI.