Ocular Surface Disease in Sjögren's Syndrome: Management in a Scleral Lens Clinical Practice

Abstract

Sjögren’s syndrome is a chronic, autoimmune, systemic disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration and malfunction of the exocrine glands, primarily the lacrimal and salivary glands, resulting in predominant symptoms of dry eye and dry mouth. Sjögren’s syndrome is a highly prevalent condition and is one of the most common systemic, rheumatic, autoimmune diseases, affecting up to 1.4% of adults in the United States, second only to rheumatoid arthritis in its prevalence in North America. Primary Sjögren’s syndrome has shown to affect patients’ health-related quality-of-life due to dryness, chronic pain, depression, anxiety,physical and mental fatigue, and neuropsychiatric symptoms.
 Scleral lenses (SLs) have shown to be significantly beneficial in relieving symptoms and improvingquality-of-life in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome and dry eye disease. SLs may be used concurrently with the other therapies including ocular lubricants, eyelid hygiene, punctal occlusion, topical prescription medications, and autologous serum.
 This manuscript reviews the implication of Sjögren’s syndrome on the ocular surface and quality-of-life and describes how SLs, in combination with other treatments, may be beneficial.