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Sodium hyaluronate relieves dry eye more effectively than saline, study finds
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Treatment with sodium hyaluronate 0.1% or 0.3% reduced symptoms of ocular irritation and increased tear breakup time better than saline application, a study found.
Michael E. Johnson and colleagues at Cardiff University in Wales evaluated the efficacy of sodium hyaluronate in 13 patients with moderate dry eye. Patients were assigned to administer 40 µL of 0.1% sodium hyaluronate, 0.3% sodium hyaluronate or 0.9% saline in both eyes. Symptom intensity and non-invasive breakup time were measured at 5, 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes and then hourly for 6 hours after instillation. The regimen was repeated twice, with 7-day intervals, using a different treatment each time, so that each eye was treated with all three.
Symptoms and non-invasive breakup time improved with all treatments. Improvements were of a larger magnitude and longer duration with sodium hyaluronate than with saline.
The study is published in the January issue of Graefe’s Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology.