Finger prick autologous blood eye drops new hope for patients with Dry eye disease

Researchers from the U.K. found that for patients having Dry eye disease adding finger-prick autologous blood (FAB) eye drops to conventional medical therapy has resulted in improvement in mean OSDI symptom score compared to conventional medical therapy alone, especially in settings where serum availability is less. The study results were published in the journal Clinical Ophthalmology. 

The tear film is necessary for supporting and maintaining ocular health as the ocular surface is a thin epithelial membrane. Loss of tear function can lead to ocular surface damage. Dry eye disease is a multifactorial abnormality of the tear film causing damage to the ocular surface. As previous literature supported the finger-prick autologous blood (FAB) eye drops for ocular surface therapy as a safe alternative, researchers from the UK conducted a trial to investigate the quantitative and qualitative efficacy of finger-prick autologous blood (FAB) eye drops versus conventional medical therapy for the treatment of severe dry eye disease (DED). 

A two-center, single-masked, randomized controlled trial was carried out on sixty patients. Out of the total that was recruited, thirty patients (sixty eyes) were treated with FAB eye drops four times per day in addition to their conventional DED treatment, and thirty patients (fifty-eight eyes) served as control subjects on conventional treatment alone. Ocular surface disease index (OSDI), Schirmer's test, fluorescein ocular staining grade (OCSG) Oxford schema, and fluorescein tear film break-up time (TBUT), were performed at baseline, at 4 and 8 weeks. 

Findings of the study: 

• FAB arm showed a significant decrease in the OSDI scores by greater than − 17.68 (− 37.67 to − 2.96, p=0.02) compared to the control arm.
• OCSG and TBUT also showed greater improvements in the FAB arm, but these were non-significant (p> 0.05).

Take-home message: 

This study evaluated the efficacy of finger-prick autologous blood (FAB) eye drops in patients with severe dry eye disease. Autologous whole blood acquired by a finger prick and instilled into the inferior conjunctival fornix (FAB eye drops) four times a day in addition to standard dry eye treatment resulted in a significant improvement in ocular surface disease index scores, despite the lack of clinical improvement in dry eye signs.

Further studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effects and benefits of FAB eye drops in patients with dry eye disease.