Cyclosporine effective for dry eye patients seeking LASIK treatment

SEATTLE — A preoperative cyclosporine regimen may enhance clinical outcomes for both normal and dry eye patients undergoing LASIK treatment, according to Marguerite B. McDonald, MD.

“Dry eye after LASIK is actually the most common complaint. This has been documented by many authors,” she said here at the ASCRS Summer Refractive Congress. “At this point in time we are treating dry eye in LASIK with unpreserved artificial tears, gels, ointment at night, punctal plugs, nutritional supplements, wraparound goggles and, most recently, we have investigated cyclosporine.”

Dr. McDonald and colleagues in New Orleans conducted a prospective study that followed 1 month of pretreatment with cyclosporine 0.05%. The study included 42 eyes of 21 patients with moderate to severe dry eyes. They were randomized into two treatment groups before LASIK – those treated with unpreserved artificial tears and those treated with cyclosporine.

“The cyclosporine group was significantly closer to its intended refractive target than the unpreserved tear group at both 3 months and 6 months, and that was highly statistically significant,” she said.

Cyclosporine also did better than unpreserved tears at all postop time periods with refractive predictability.

“Cyclosporine 0.05% drops appear to be safe and effective in preventing and treating post-LASIK dry eye syndrome,” Dr. McDonald said.