BACKGROUND The relationship between complexity of eye drop regime and compliance is not straightforward, i.e. fewer drops may not mean better compliance. We investigated the level of inconvenience different eye drop regimes incurred in comparison with a once-daily (OD) regime for patients experienced with using topical anti-glaucoma medication. METHODS Patients indicated the level of inconvenience from drop regimes of 1, 2, 3 or 4 times daily on 10-cm visual analogue scales. The score for the OD regime was then compared with the scores for the other regimes using paired t-tests with Bonferroni correction. RESULTS At a significance limit of p = 0.05, five of six subgroups indicated once-a-day drops were significantly more convenient than other regimes. Patients who had used the OD regime considered this difference greater than those who had not. CONCLUSIONS This study's results offer some pragmatic guidance on choice of therapy and on counselling patients about compliance. We would suggest starting patients on OD drops in preference to alternatives to promote compliance.