The effects of autologous serum eye drops in the treatment of ocular surface diseases : a retrospective study

Abstract

AbstractPurpose To evaluate the efficiency of autologous serum eyedrops in the treatment of severe dry eye (DE) and persistent epithelial defects (PED).Methods Ninety‐seven patients with PED or DE, unresponsive to conventional treatment, were studied. Functional symptoms and slit‐lamp findings were recorded.Results The mean LogMAR visual acuity significantly improved from 1.81 (20/1291) +/‐ 9 lines before to 1.69 (20/980) +/‐ 6 lines after treatment (p = 0.01). Visual acuity increased by 2 lines or more in 29 out of 97 eyes (30%) and it decreased by 2 lines or more in 15 eyes (15%). Resolution of 3 subjective symptoms was noticed in 14 out of 97 eyes (14%), resolution of 2 in 22 (23%), resolution of 1 in 29 (30%), and no subjective improvement was found in 32 eyes (33%). Among 75 eyes with PED, ulcer healing was observed in 31 (41%) at 1 month and 61 (81%) at 3 months. In multivariate analysis only presence of limbal deficiency significantly influenced the healing time. The average time from treatment onset to ulcer healing was 213 days in eyes with limbal deficiency and 59 days in eyes with no limbal deficiency (p<0.0001). Among 22 eyes with DE, improvement of subjective symptoms was observed in 8 (36%) at 1 month and 12 (55%) at 3 months. At the end of follow‐up improvement of subjective symptoms was observed in 20 (91%) eyes.Conclusion Cicatrisation of PED and improvement of DE symptoms were observed in most eyes under autologous serum.