OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the consequences of local anti-glaucoma drug side effects on the vision-related quality of life of French patients. METHODS: A mail survey was sent to 20,000 homes belonging to the Sofres panel (representative of the French population according to the quota method) asking whether one member of the family was treated with one of the available topical anti-glaucoma drugs. A computer-assisted telephone interviewing system was used to confirm self-reported glaucoma treatment, to describe the disease and its treatment, as well as medical item consumption. Vision-related QoL was assessed with the NEI-VFQ-25 and local tolerance with the COMTOL. RESULTS: Thirteen thousand three hundred and fifty-two homes (66.7%) answered the mail. Five hundred eighty-one people declared they were treated for glaucoma, leading to glaucoma and ocular hypertension treatment prevalence of 1.8%, increasing with age. Of those with glaucoma, 173 patients under treatment at the time of the interview were selected at random. Their NEI-VFQ-25 global score was high showing an overall good QoL. Two domain scores showed some deterioration: general health and driving. COMTOL results identified 62.4% of the patients cited at least one local side effect: 25.4% had burning, 20.8% blurred vision and 20.2% tearing amongst others. Vision related QoL was affected by local side effects (up to 34.4%) leading to poor perceived treatment satisfaction that impacted compliance. Burning and stinging, dimming of vision, focusing from near to far and trouble seeing at night intensively affected QoL (P<0.001) while redness, unusual taste and discharge from the eye did not reach the 0.10 P-Value. Dissatisfied patients visited their ophthalmologist more frequently leading to extra expenses. CONCLUSION: Based on a representative French sample, vision related QoL is affected by topical drug side effects that also impact patient satisfaction, compliance and cost.