Abstract
Purpose: :
Menopausal women with dry eye are the most responsive to transdermal testosterone cream. This group is also very likely to discontinue contact lens wear due symptoms of dryness. The present study attempts to determine if using transdermal testosterone cream will increase contact lens wear time in a group of female contact lens wearers who have reduced wear time.
Methods: :
Female patients who presented with reduced contact lens wear time were enrolled in this study. There were 22 subjects who averaged 44.75 yrs. Before treatment, baseline TBUT, Schirmer test with anesthetic and current wear time were obtained. After three weeks of treatment with 5% testosterone cream, the measurements were repeated. The data was analyzed with student t-test with post hoc test for significance.
Results: :
TBUT increased post testosterone treatment from 3.1 sec +/-1.37 to 7.69 sec +/-3.5. The Schirmer test also increased from 8.17 mm +/- 5.9 to 11.79 mm +/- 4.26 after treatment. The contact lens wear time was also increased from 6.54 hrs +/-5.28 to 12.4 hrs +/-3.64 after testosterone use. All three increases TBUT, Schirmer and contact lens wear time were statistically significant at the p=.05 level.
Conclusions: :
Contact lens intolerance is often a consequence of dry eye. The hormonal changes of menopause can cause patients to develop contact lens intolerance due decreased aqueous production or increased evaporation. Transdermal testosterone promotes both increased tear production and meibomian gland secretion thus reducing dry eye symptoms. It is noteworthy that 6 of study patients were unable to tolerate contact lens wear prior to this study. They are now all able to comfortably wear contact lenses using testosterone. Treatment of menopausal dry eye patients with testosterone appears to increase contact lens wear time and makes lens wear more tolerable.
Keywords: cornea: tears/tear film/dry eye • contact lens