Treatment of dry eyes in Sjögren's syndrome: the role of autologous blood serum

Abstract

Introduction: Due to the lack of effective and etiologic treatment for patients with dry eyes in the setting of Sjögren's syndrome (SS), alternative therapeutic modalities are eagerly needed. Hence, the use of autologous serum in the form of eye drops is emerging as a promising treatment.

Areas covered: The authors summarize the current evidence on the principle, clinical results, limitations, side effects and future directions of the application of autologous serum, as an alternative therapeutic modality in the management of keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) giving particular emphasis on SS-related KCS.

Expert opinion: Following administration of autologous serum eye drops, improvement of both subjective and objective parameters has been consistently demonstrated in SS-related KCS, with no particular safety signals being emerged. Future larger studies addressing the effectiveness and safety of autologous blood serum eye drops are eagerly expected to fully define the determinants for success of autologous blood serum in SS-related KCS, optimize the protocol in terms of maximum healing and minimum cost and maximize the benefit from therapeutic combinations.

Keywords::

• autologous serum eye drops
• corneal epithelium
• keratoconjunctivitis sicca
• Sjögren's syndrome

Acknowledgement

Ioannis Katsakoulas and Clio P Mavragani contributed equally to this work.

Notes

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