What to expect with serum drops?

[eyewillprevail]

Hi All,

First post on this site but have been reading for a while. Grateful for the information! I have just acquired autologous serum eye drops after working for 6 months to have them produced in my little town. My drops are 20% serum. I used them this past weekend and I think my eyes were feeling worse than usual! So I guess I expected immediate lubrication and relief and I'm writing to ask about others' experience. My ophthalmologist has no experience with ASEDs. Do serum drops take time to help? If so how long? I've been told my problem is both related to an aqueous deficiency and/or to almost no functioning meibomian glands (though they show no sign of blepharitis). I wonder if the ASEDs used frequently are washing away what little oil is in my eyes and thus causing them to feel worse? So wondering if anyone has thoughts on how long one should perservere with the ASEDs in order to determine whether they are helping or hindering.

[mdryeye]

I am in the same situation. Started 20% serum drops 3 days ago, and my eye are actually feeling worse.

[eyewillprevail]

I am in the same situation. Started 20% serum drops 3 days ago, and my eye are actually feeling worse.

Bummer isn't it! I've had such high hopes. I resort to comforting myself with the idea of scleral lenses and this new 'prokera' treatment?! (i.e. haven't exhausted all options yet, and new things seem to be coming along all the time) but hopefully somebody can give us some perspective on how the serum drops are supposed to feel/work.

[mdryeye]

Exactly! In my case, I even tried PROSE lenses.. Regarding serum, however, at MEEI they told me it might take 2 to 12 months!!! to see results

[jenny2008]

i was told by my old eye specailist (he was fantastic) to give it 6 months.. so dont give up yet ok!!

[eyewillprevail]

Thanks Jenny. The case study i read reported measurable improvement in 1 month, so maybe this is why I expected to feel some immediate relief.

Mdryeye - the prose lenses didn't work out for you? Sorry to hear. What was the issue?

[Katewest]

Ok this might be a dumb question but are serum drops the same as hormone drops? And are either of them dhea drops?

[spmcc]

Autologous serum drops are made from your own blood. Here's a 2004 paper on them: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1772389/ (check the references if you want more info)

Hormone drops are synthetic (made in a lab to mimic our natural hormones). Some (sex) hormone names are estradiol/estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and DHEA (there are many others!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_hormones)

Leiter's Compounding Pharmacy has a bunch of different hormone eye drops (http://www.leiterrx.com/). Click on "Products and Services" and then "Ophthalmic".

You can also get info here on DEZ regarding hormone creams (to put on skin/lids) (e.g., testosterone, progesterone, DHEA).

[spmcc]

Two recent studies on autologous serum drops:

Comparison of Autologous Serum Eye Drops With Different Diluents. Cho et al. Curr Eye Res. 2012 Aug 28 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22928476

Stability of serum eye drops after storage of 6 months. Fischer et al. Cornea. 2012 Nov;31(11):1313-8
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22955119