June 29, 2005
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Combination hormone treatment may aid women with postmenopausal dry eye

Combined esterified estrogen and methyltestosterone relieved dry eye symptoms in most of the postmenopausal women in a small, retrospective study that was recently published. The study authors recommended a randomized trial to substantiate their findings.

Garrett Scott, MD, and colleagues at the Doheny Eye Institute in Los Angeles reviewed the charts of 11 postmenopausal women with dry eye who had been treated in a 3-year period with a combination of estrogen and methyltestosterone. The patients ranged in age from 48 to 84 years old, with a mean age of 65.2 years. The mean treatment time was 12 months.

Ten of the 11 patients reported an improvement in their dry eye symptoms while receiving treatment. The mean time for relief to occur as a result of the combined therapy was 4.1 months.

The study is published in the June issue of American Journal of Ophthalmology.