Polyethylene eye covers best for Ocular surface diseases in comatose patients: Study
Ocular Surface Disease (OSD) is a common complication in critically ill patients, but receive minimal clinical consideration to prevent it . Due to the ICU patients' life-threatening conditions, the eye care and symptoms of the OSD are often given low priority.
In recent decades, many evidence-based practices for eye care were developed; these practices include a wide range of interventions such as 1) washing the eyes with normal saline solution; 2) using lubricating ointments or teardrops; 3) moisturizing the chambers by applying a polyethylene eye cover, swimming goggles; 4) covering the eyes with eye shields, pads, or patches; and 5) closing the eyelid with closure by transparent tape or tarsorrhaphy. To date,there is no clear evidence as to which of these interventions represent the ideal eye care for ICU patients to prevent OSD.
According to recent research findings , in comatose patients in the ICU, polyethylene eye covers were superior to artificial teardrops and normal saline eye drops for the reduction in incidence and severity of ocular surface diseases. The findings have been put forth in PLOS ONE.
Polyethylene covers are claimed to be useful in preventing ocular surface diseases (OSD); however, evidence of their clinical efficacy is limited.
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