Abstract
Purpose: :
Autologous serum eyedrops have recently been suggested to be efficacious in the treatment of various ocular surface disorders including persistent corneal epithelial defects. For this disorder, most authors have utilized autologous serum that has been diluted to 20% in normal saline. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of treating persistent corneal epithelial defects utilizing 50% autologous serum eyedrops.
Methods: :
A retrospective chart review was performed of all patients during a 14–month period who underwent treatment with 50% autologous serum eyedrops for a persistent corneal epithelial defect that was non–responsive to conventional medical treatment.
Results: :
Twelve eyes of 12 patients failed conventional medical therapy for treatment of a persistent corneal epithelial defect and were treated with 50% autologous serum eyedrops every two hours while awake. All corneas were neurotrophic, with the etiologies being herpetic (5 eyes), post–keratoplasty (4 eyes), diabetic (1 eye), and unknown (2 eyes). The mean duration of the epithelial defects prior to initiation of autologous serum eyedrops was 6.4 weeks (range 1–22 weeks). Nine eyes (75%) healed within 4 weeks (mean 1.8 weeks) of starting therapy with 50% autologous serum eyedrops. One of the nine eyes which healed initially with 50% autologous serum eyedrops developed a recurrence of the epithelial defect when the eyedrops were tapered to twice daily. Of the 3 eyes which did not heal completely within 4 weeks of starting 50% autologous serum eyedrops, all of the epithelial defects decreased significantly in size during the treatment period. No cases of infectious keratitis occurred in any of the eyes treated.
Conclusions: :
The use of 50% autologous serum eyedrops appears to be a safe and efficacious medical treatment modality for persistent corneal epithelial defects that are recalcitrant to conventional medical therapy.
Keywords: cornea: epithelium • anterior segment • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: outcomes/complications