Use Of Autologous Serum In Patients With Cicatricial Lagophtalmos: A Confocal Mycroscopy Study

Abstract

Purpose: : To study the effects of autologous serum eye drop in patients with cicatricial lagophtalmos.

Methods: : We study the use of autologous serum in comparison with artificial tears in 21 pazients with age from 24 to 47 to observe its effects on the corneal epithelium and on the corneal sub-basal nerve plexus by in vivo confocal microscopy after one week, one month and three months.

Results: : patients treated with autologous serum eye drop showed a thicker corneal epithelium, a more branched corneal sub-basal nerve plexus, and improvement of symptoms compared to patients treated with standard treatment with artificial tears. Epithelial defects developed in most of the control group while it occurred in only one patient treated with serum eye drop.

Conclusions: : autologous serum eye drop is an effective and well tolerated treatment for exposure keratopathy secondary to cicatritial and paralitic lagophthalmo. It allows a more rapid regeneration of the corneal sub-basal nerve plexus, with a better preservation of the corneal integrity and a reduction of the complications related to corneal exposure.

Keywords: cornea: epithelium • cornea: tears/tear film/dry eye • microscopy: confocal/tunneling