Role of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) eye drops as monotherapy for the treatment of severe dry eye disease

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate use of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) eye drops for the treatment of severe dry eye disease. Materials & Method: This is a retrospective study conducted at a tertiary eye care centre. 30 patients with severe dry eye disease (DED) were included in this study. Data obtained from medical records of patients. Following information noted from medical records. Type of dry eye as evaporative DED (EDED) or aqueous deficient DED (ADDED). Following information were noted before treatment with PRP eye drops and on each follow up visits; OSDI score(Subjective symptoms), Corneal Fluorescein Staining (CFS), Tear Film Breakup Time (TBUT) , Tear Meniscus Height (TMH) and Schirmer’s score (SCH 1). Follow up done at 1 week, 1 month, 3 month and final follw up done at 6 months. Results: Out of 30 cases 19 (63.3 %) were women, and 11 (36.6 %) were men.16 (53.3 %) had EDED, while 14 (46.6%) had ADDED. 6 months of monotherapy with autologous PRP resulted reduction in dry eye symptoms in 28 (93.3 %) cases. CFS decreased in 23 (76.6 %) patients, TBUT improved in 26 (86.6%) patients, tear meniscus height improved in 24 (80.0%) patients and schirmers score improved in 16 (53.3 %) patients. Conclusion: Autologous PRP is a effective treatment to improve sigh and symptoms of dry eye disease. Introduction Asian studies on dry eye showed that the prevalence of dry eyes is higher in Asian population than the western population and it is between 14.5%-93.2%. 1-6 The prevalence of dry eye in India is ranging from 18.4% to 40.8%. 1-3 This variation is because of lack of uniformity in the diagnostic criteria of dry eye. There are many etiological factors for dry eye like age, sex, smoking, occupational factors, geographical factors(high altitude, hot dry air) systemic diseases like Sjögren syndrome, Meibomian glands dysfunction, air conditioning, vitamin A deficiency etc. 5,7-10 There are two main mechanisms that explain this ocular surface dysfunction: aqueous deficiency and excessive evaporation of the tear film. 11 Preservative-free artificial eye drops are the main conventional treatment for dry eye providing ocular surface lubrication. However, they lack the complex composition of natural tears such as water, salts, lipids, proteins, and growth factors. 12 http://jmscr.igmpublication.org/home/ ISSN (e)-2347-176x ISSN (p) 2455-0450 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i9.129