Dry Eye Foundation LIVE - 5/13/2022
Episode 2 - May 6, 2022
PARTICIPANTS: REBECCA PETRIS, AIDAN MOORE
TOPICS:
Zoom Group calendar updates
DryEyeZone website - updated menu of eye drop information including
A presentation by Dr Sandra Brown on preservative-free eyedrop contamination risk
Information on eye drops preserved with BAK.
Industry news & journal roundup
Rebecca shared about her many years of blogging (which ended with the pandemic) and that this livestream will be taking the place of many of the itmes she used to blog about
Cyclosporine emulsion (generic for Restasis) is now available from Mylan Pharmaceuticals, NDC 0378-8760-58
Interesting study on antidepressants suggesting that “Patients using serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors have lower OSDI scores” i.e. lower dry eye symptoms.
A Sjogrens study suggested symptoms, rather than disease per se, had the most impact on health-related quality of life.
British Medical Journal published the first systematic review of the association between asthma and dry eye.
Study about Schirmer test reliability
Systematic review (36 studies) of cataract surgery and dry eye
Dry Eye Disease and Me survey highlight of the week
480 patients in our community answered this question.
Only 18% of participants said that they think about their eyes less than half of the time.
We consider this one of the most important measures of the impact of dry eye disease on quality of life.
CURRENT ISSUES: Dry eye snake oil… shameless profiteering in the dry eye space. Rebecca highlighted a variety of red flags on a dry eye mask website with ludicrously implausible claims. The website’s home page says that it conducted a study of 1,000 patients (red flag - no one conducts studies anywhere near that size for products like this), of whom 99.6% reported a significant amount of dry eye relief (red flag, no remedy works universally) and 85.75% of whom discontinued the use of prescription eyedrops at 90 days (big, big, big red flag, suggesting an eye mask replaces medical care). We invite viewers to contact the owner of the site and ask who conducted the study and where.
Rebecca congratulated the Orange County Dry Eye Support group, who are retiring from an amazing 17 years of service running this group.
NEXT WEEK:
Dry Eye Helpline - where we’re at, what we’re doing, how we can help you or help someone you see struggling, and how you can help us.
Journal roundup & industry news
Issue: Biologic eye drops
Site resource: Clinical trials guide