Photo Credit: Alona Siniehina
The following is a summary of “Efficacy of topical 0.05% cyclosporine A and 0.1% sodium hyaluronate in post-refractive surgery chronic dry eye patients with ocular pain,” published in the January 2024 issue of Ophthalmology by Zhao et al.
Post-refractive surgery dry eye disease (DED) management is clinically challenging, often marked by incomplete responses to traditional artificial tears, particularly in cases complicated by ocular pain.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the efficacy of a combined 0.05% cyclosporine A and 0.1% sodium hyaluronate for pain-resistant post-refractive dry eye unresponsive to tears.
They assessed 30 post-refractive surgery dry eye disease patients experiencing unresponsive ocular pain to traditional artificial tears. A 3-month treatment with topical 0.05% cyclosporine A and 0.1% sodium hyaluronate was administered, assessing dry eye symptoms, ocular pain using Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) and Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory modified for the Eye (NPSI-Eye), and objective parameters including tear break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer I test (SIt), corneal fluorescein staining (CFS), corneal sensitivity, corneal nerve morphology, and tear inflammatory cytokines and neuropeptides levels using Luminex assay at baseline, 1 month, and 3 months.
The result showed that following a 3-month treatment, patients exhibited statistically significant improvements in ocular surface disease index (OSDI), TBUT, SIt, CFS, and corneal sensitivity (all P<0.01) according to linear mixed models. As indicated by reduced NRS and NPSI-Eye scores (both P<0.05), Ocular pain parameters positively correlated with OSDI and CFS scores. Additionally, tear levels of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α showed significant improvement compared to pre-treatment (P=0.01, 0.03, 0.02).
Investigators concluded that combining 0.05% cyclosporine A and 0.1% sodium hyaluronate effectively relieved dry eye symptoms, pain, and inflammation in post-refractive surgery patients unresponsive to regular tears.
Source: bmcophthalmol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12886-024-03294-z
