Topical cyclosporine effective long-term in some dry eye patients, study finds

Six months or more of topical cyclosporine treatment resolved chronic dye eye in some patients for at least 1 year, a long-term retrospective study found.

Steven E. Wilson, MD, and Henry D. Perry, MD, reviewed outcomes in patients with chronic dry eye disease who completed a twice daily course of topical 0.05% cyclosporine for 6 to 72 months.

The researchers found that eight patients (including about 4% of the total patients treated with cyclosporine in one author's practice) remained free of disease symptoms and signs for at least 1 year after stopping treatment. The researchers could not identify any factors distinguishing these patients from those who did not respond as well to the drug.

"In such patients, presumably there is effective elimination of inflammatory processes underlying chronic dry eye disease. Such patients should be monitored long-term because a return of disease may be noted," the authors said.

The study is published in the January issue of Ophthalmology.