NEW EYE DROPS FOR DRY EYE SHOW EFFICACY IN REFRACTORY PATIENT

 A NEW generation of eye drops with cyclosporine A is showing promise in the treatment of severe refractory dry eye, Ewa Mrukwa-Kominek MD, Poland, told the 20th ESCRS Winter Meeting in Athens. 

At a Cornea Day session, Dr Mrukwa-Kominek described the case of a patient with severe dry eye who had failed all previous therapy.
 The patient was a 58-year-old woman with a six-year history of severe dry eye. During that time she had received numerous symptomatic treatments, none of which resolved the condition.
 The patient’s subjective symptoms included pain, redness, lacrimation and increased light sensitivity. Examinations also revealed meibomian gland dysfunction and central corneal haze.
 Confocal microscopy revealed pleomorphism and polymegathism of endothelial cells. There were also apparent distortions in the arrangement of keratinocytes, folds in the deep stroma and multiple endothelial deposits.
 The patient received cyclosporine A eye drops at a dosage of 1.0mg/ml (IKERVIS®, Santen) once daily in each eye. Within one week the patient had a clinical improvement in her condition, with improved fluorescein stain clearance. In addition, the ocular surface disease index was reduced from 60 points to 52 points.
“At one month the patient had a significant improvement in her quality of life,” she said.