Treatment of Dry Eye Disease with Autologous Platelet-Rich Plasma: A Prospective, Interventional, Non-Randomized Study

Abstract

IntroductionThe objective of this study was to evaluate the use of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) eye drops as monotherapy for the treatment of moderate to severe cases of dry eye disease.MethodsThree hundred and sixty-eight patients with moderate to severe dry eye disease (DED) were included in this prospective case series. Subjects were classified as evaporative DED (EDED) or aqueous deficient DED (ADDED). Improvement of the DED subjective symptoms, corneal fluorescein staining (CFS), and corrected distance visual acuity (BCVA) were evaluated. We also analysed how many rounds of PRP therapy were used.ResultsTwo hundred and ninety-seven (80.7%) patients were women, and 71 (19.3%) were men. Two hundred and thirty-two (63%) patients had EDED, while 136 (37%) had ADDED. After 6 weeks of monotherapy treatment with autologous PRP, dry eye symptoms improved in 322 (87.5%) cases. A decrease of CFS was observed in 280 (76.1%) patients. One hundred and six (28.8%) patients improved at least 1 line of BCVA. The scores in the ocular Surface Disease Index and the Oxford scale of corneal fluorescein staining decreased statistically after the treatment (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe topical use of autologous platelet-rich plasma as monotherapy is an effective treatment to improve signs and symptoms in patients suffering from moderate to severe chronic DED.

Sjögren’s Syndrome as an Ocular Problem: Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment

“…Significant improvement in symptoms, fluorescein TFBUT, and ocular surface staining score were reported after autologous serum drops treatment [28,54,[80][81][82]. However, some studies reported no significant advantage in tear film stability, Schirmer test, or fluorescein staining in the use of AS over AF [83][84][85]. It is free of preservatives and has osmolarity and biomechanical properties similar to natural tears [54,80,84].…”

“…Plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) have been reported as successful treatment in DED patients [54,84,85]. Both of them (PRGF and PRP) are liberated from the platelets during preparation.…”

“…Those components Sjögren's Syndrome as an Ocular Problem: Signs and Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment DOI: http://dx.doi.org /10.5772/intechopen.83821 help in the proliferation, migration, and differentiation of corneal epithelial cells [84][85][86][87]. Both PRGF and PRP are preservative-free, well tolerated with almost no side effects [84][85][86][87]. Further investigations to compare them with other hemoderivatives and with commercial artificial tear eye drops are necessary.…”

Effect of platelets‐rich plasma on scalp hair diameter

“…Since the introduction of platelet‐rich plasma (PRP) in the clinical practice 1970's, it has undergone dramatically incorporation in various medical fields . It is successfully being incorporated in oral surgery, orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, microsurgery, wound healing, hair regrowth etc . The basic idea is to collect the higher concentrations of platelets from the patient's own blood by centrifugation and reinject into the patient's own body.…”

“…1 It is successfully being incorporated in oral surgery, orthopedic surgery, ophthalmology, microsurgery, wound healing, hair regrowth etc. [2][3][4][5][6] The basic idea is to collect the higher concentrations of platelets from the patient's own blood by centrifugation and reinject into the patient's own body. These platelets suspended in the plasma can activate exogenously or endogenously to release growth factors and cytokines.…”