Single TearCare treatment improves visual function, quality of life in dry eye disease
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Key takeaways:
- More than half of participants experienced improvement in reading speed after one treatment with TearCare.
- Quality of life and clinical exam parameters also improved after treatment.
Patients who underwent a single treatment with TearCare experienced significant improvements in reading speed, as well as signs and symptoms of dry eye disease, 1 month after the procedure, according to a study in Clinical Ophthalmology.
“A large portion of the patients I see in my practice experience significant issues from their dry eye disease,” Preeya K. Gupta, MD, senior author and director of Triangle Eye Consultants, said in a related Sight Sciences press release. “The disease can impact their quality of life, and when it goes untreated patients can have reduced visual function.”
In a prospective, single-center clinical trial, Gupta and colleagues evaluated the effect of treatment with TearCare (Sight Sciences) among 32 adults (average age, 55.9 years; 81.3% women) with meibomian gland disease and dry eye disease. The researchers conducted clinical exams and assessed meibomian gland secretion score, tear breakup time and corneal fluorescein staining at baseline and 1 month after treatment.
In addition, participants evaluated symptoms of dry eye via the Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire, Visual Function Questionnaire 25 (VFQ-25) and the Fatigue Severity Scale, as well as reading speed through various tests, including the International Reading Speed Texts (IReST). At baseline, participants had “diminished reading speed” of an average of 163.6 words per minute.
According to results, 52% of participants had a significant improvement in reading speed, increasing their score by at least 10 words per minute on the IReST. OSDI scores also significantly decreased from 45.7 to 33.4 after treatment (P < .001), while VFQ-25 scores significantly increased from 73.8 to 80.5 (P < .001).
In addition, researchers reported improvements in meibomian gland secretion scores, from 4.2 to 6.1 (P < .001), and in TBUT, which increased from 5.2 to 6.5 seconds (P < .001).
According to subgroup analysis, participants with an improvement in reading speed score of more than 10 words per minute also demonstrated greater improvement in fluorescein staining, while those who improved TBUT by at least 2 seconds were more likely to have lower meibomian gland secretion scores and TBUT at baseline.
“We are very pleased that this study demonstrated how a single in-office intervention with TearCare addressed the visual dysfunction associated with dry eye disease,” Gupta said in the release.
Reference:
- Single TearCare treatment improved functional visual outcomes as well as signs and symptoms of patients with dry dye disease in investigator-initiated trial. https://investors.sightsciences.com/news-releases/news-release-details/single-tearcarer-treatment-improved-functional-visual-outcomes. Published Oct. 14, 2024. Accessed Oct. 15, 2024.
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