Conjunctival/scleral pathway

Schoenwald, R.D., et al. 1997. Penetration into the anterior chamber via the conjunctival/scleral pathway. J Ocul Pharmacol Ther 13 41. 

In a study by Schoenwald et al., the conjunctival/scleral pathway yielded higher iris-ciliary body concentrations for all compounds evaluated with the exception of lipophilic rhodamine B (33). Romanelli et al. demonstrated the absorption of topical ocular bendazac into the retina-choroid via the conjunctival-scleral pathway (34). Noncomeal absorption was influenced more by physicochemical properties of the drag than characteristics of the formulation, whereas conversely transcomeal absorption could be influenced more by characteristics of the formulation. 

FIGURE 63-3 Possible absorption pathwi s of an ophthalmic drug following topical ( plication to the eye. Solid black arrows represent the corneal route dashed blue arrows represent the conjunctival/scleral route the black dashed line represents tiie nasolacrimal absorption pathway. 

There are two pathways for ocular absorption, the corneal route and the conjunctiva/scleral route as shown in Figure 12.3. Conjunctival absorption is nonproductive and constitutes an additional loss following instillation of a topical dose. 

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