Wellish Vision Institute in Las Vegas offers patients autologous serum eye drops, which are another popular form of treating dry eye disease. Dry Eye Disease (DED) can be caused by several reasons but is essentially a chronic lack of tears (moisture) or lack of quality tears (oil).
Common Dry Eye Symptoms Include:
- Dryness, naturally
- Tearing, counterintuitively
- Sensitivity to light
- Discomfort and irritation
- Tiredness
- Itching or burning sensation
- Grittiness
- Foreign body sensations on or near the eye
- Disturbance in vision
- Redness in eye
What Are Autologous Serum Eye Drops?
Over-the-counter eye drops typically only treat the outer most layer of the cornea, which are called epithelium cells. In patients with chronic dry eye disease, these cells can become damaged or even die, adding to a further progression of DED. Autologous serum eye drops are created using a patient’s own blood, serum, and plasma. This combination contains fibronectin, immunoglobulins, vitamin A, and other anti-inflammatory properties that can promote epithelial health and help tremendously with dry eye disease.
Autologous serum eye drops are non-allergenic and their biomechanical and biochemical properties are similar to a patient’s normal tears. The serum is created in a sterile manner and diluted with sterile saline (preservative free tears) to create the autologous serum eye drops. Patients can keep the drops they are using in a refrigerator and store the other vials in a freezer until needed.
Autologous serum eye drops are sometimes an excellent option for those who have severe dry eye that doesn’t respond well to other treatment protocols.
Other Treatment Options
Some newer treatment options are available for additional types of dry eye, including IPL, LipiFlow Thermal Pulsation and PROKERA amniotic membrane to patients with this condition.
