Dry eye disease (DED) may not be seen as a big problem to many out there because of its generally perceived mild symptoms. In fact its society-wide prevalence, as high as half of the population, brings considerable burden that causes losses in individual quality of life and work productivity. In a trial, 17 patients with advanced DED received corneal epithelial stem cell-derived eye drops, rather than widely used autologous serum eye drops containing biochemical components closely mimicking natural tears. The treatment was self-administrating the eye drops four times daily (QID) to both eyes for 12 weeks. Preliminary safety was proven by the absence of any severe adverse events or side effects. All patients reported decreased use of pro re nata (PRN) artificial tears during the 12-week treatment period, 15 of them described the treatment as “soothing”; only 6 of them reported subjective symptoms like transient burning and itching. The treatment appears to be a promise for symptom alleviation and quality of life improvement for patients with severe DED who are unresponsive to conventional therapies. Further investigations with larger sample size and longer follow-up interval would be required to provide stronger evidence.

References

1. Rush SW, et al. Clin Ophthalmol. 2021;15:3097-3107