The retrospective study, published in December 2014 on PubMed, found that patients with severe dry eye reported subjective improvement in symptoms after long-term use of autologous serum 50 per cent eye drops.
One-hundred-twenty-three eyes of 63 patients treated with autologous serum 50 per cent eye drops for severe dry eye disease were studied. Treatment occurred four times a day for a minimum of three months and mean follow-up was 12 months.
The researchers noted that mean corneal fluorescein staining improved from 1.77 at baseline to 1.1 at final follow-up. Schirmer’s scores improved from 6.6mm at baseline to 10.7mm at the 12- to 24-month follow-up, and ocular surface index scores improved from 54.1 at baseline to 49.5 at the 6- to less-than-12-month follow-up.
They observed no complications and concluded that in individuals with autoimmune conditions associated with dry eye disease, autologous serum eye drops may affect serum cytokines and growth factors, resulting in different epitheliotropic properties.
The researchers wrote that although patients with graft-versus-host disease reported subjective relief of symptoms and significant improvement in Schirmer’s and corneal staining scores, Index scores for Ocular Surface Disease did not improve significantly.
