actually i was on serum drops 10 weeks...

[jenny2008]

if i tried the serum drops 10 weeks and noticed no improvement upon dryness from the drops... should i try again?? do most of you who try the serum drops notice immediate improvement? thanks!

[LauraK]

I have been on them for about 4 weeks. It's hard to tell if I have seen any improvement. What concentration are you taking. I have 20% and know they can go up to 100%. Perhaps increasing the % may help. I have read that it helps with healing of the cornea - have you noticed any improvement in your eye condition?

[jenny2008]

i took them last year and didnt notice an improvement.. my corneas were ok at the time -so i think that is why there wasnt any improvement ...my dryness was from and is from sjogrnes and mgd... i will have to look up and see if i can findthe concentraion andlet u know! thanks...
good luck to u. keep us /me posted.. ))

[jenny2008]

i tried them last year.. i dont think i had cornea staining at the time.. my eyes are super dry due to sjogrens andmgd.... not sure of the concentration. will have to see if i can find that out..
please keep me posted on your progress.... thanks!!

[jenny2008]

i tried them last year.. i dont think i had cornea staining at the time.. my eyes are super dry due to sjogrens andmgd.... not sure of the concentration. will have to see if i can find that out..
please keep me posted on your progress.... thanks!!

[PotatoCakes]

Do you have any damage? THat's the key. I had corneal damage and the serum drops helped my eyes heal. Like real tears, they contain properties that heal damage to your eyes. Regular over the counter drops, don't. If dryness is your only issue, serum drops may be unnecessary. For me, not only do they heal damage but I notice a dramatic drop in redness when I use them regularly.

[Hopeful2]

As has been mentioned by other posters, serum tears are great for healing the surface of the cornea. They act like natural tears in their ability to heal. They are also sometimes prescribed for dry eye when people are intolerant or allergic to many of the chemicals in artificial tears. I have heard of people using them every hour, in a way similar to artificial tears.

I was on 100% serum for several months. I did not notice any improvement in my level of dry eye. I really liked using them when my eyes felt burning near the end of the day. I did find 100% serum tears to make my eyes feel dry, 15 minutes after inserting them. . . I would follow up with a PF artificial tear (Oasis Tears/ Refresh Endura).

[indrep]

Serum drops are used for their hypotonic nature. This theory comes from the vascular permeability theory of blood vessels near the surface allowing more serum to permeate the blood vessel to the surface. This is eyes with ocular surface issues have "blood shot" eyes. The body is trying to lower the osmolarity of the tears.

The problem with serum tears is the delivery vehicle to keep them on the eye long enough to have an impact on the osmolarity.

[jenny2008]

so indrep are you saying that the serum drops only help for so many minutes at a time? My eyes dont look red but most days if i dont use a steriod drop they just burn and i drop constantly... i hvae had 2 dif docs rx them in the past but my original doc -(who is one that has been mentioned here on the boards-great doc) told me a few years back that the serum drops prob wouldnt help me as my corneas had healed... does that sound about right?

when i tried them last fall for 10 weeks i felt like Hopeful2-they would add moisture but i would still have to put drops in 10 min or so later... they kinda made my eyes feel dry or they just didnt help i guess. i just didnt know if i should try again if i can get my doc to rx them...

[indrep]

Vascular Permeability is one of the body's defenses against inflammation. Where there is inflammation the body fluids have become too salty or hypertonic. So the body detects this and the blood vessels increase in size and migrate to the surface and allow more serum from the blood to be secreted. Serum is very hypotonic (less Salt). The idea is the hypotonic serum will negate or normalize the hypertonic fluid in contact with the cells of the body bringing it back into balance.

When the blood vessels are doing this there is a constant "flow" or secretion of the serum. When the serum comes from a bottle there is no real way to keep it on the ocular surface for a meaningful period of time. In order for it to really be productive, applications would likely be needed every 20-30 minutes for several weeks and would be quite cost prohibitive in my opinion.

As for healing the cornea, some doctors may have experienced that in some way. Published data on this is conflicting.

[Hopeful2]

Hi indrep,

Thanks for the detailed description. I just want to be sure I am understanding it correctly. Does serum flow out of the surface veins on our eyes? What if there is inflammation without redness, only a few prominent veins?

Hopeful2

[indrep]

Hopeful,
Remember there are arteries and veins. Arteries go away from the heart and veins back to the heart. The redness is caused by the arteries and that is where vascular permeability happens. I would say the prominent ones will eventually being joined by smaller ones.

The serum seeps/secreted/flows from the arteries to the ocular surface.

[spmcc]

Serum drops are used for their hypotonic nature.

This is interesting... so they are the exact opposite of, say, Muro 128 drops which are hypertonic.

And I thought the high salt content of Muro drops (or saline) helps to reduce inflammation (edema).

I tried serum drops (100%) for 7 weeks in 2008. They didn't help me. But I love Muro 128 drops. Hmmm.

[indrep]

My understanding of corneal edema is the cells of the cornea have too much water in them. So a hypertonic solution will pull the water out of the cells, reducing the edema of the cornea. Sometimes a high concentration of glycerin is used to accomplish this as well.

A hypertonic solution on a normal cell will pull the water and kill the cell. The goal of the body is balance, an isotonic tear layer.

Too much water in a cell causes the cell to swell like a water balloon. If the water isn't shut off, at some point the balloon will burst, it is the same with cells in our body.

Too little water in a cell causes it to shrivel and die.