Plasma Tears

[LindaT]

I spent about $1500.00 on my own plasma tears. I heard it would help with healing muti layers of your eye. I wasted $1500.00.
You have to keep them frozen all the time. They are only good 6 months. They did not help.

[Katewest]

This is interesting because it seems like more people than not are helped by the serum tears. Whats your dx Linda?

[Guest]

I spent about $1500.00 on my own plasma tears. I heard it would help with healing muti layers of your eye. I wasted $1500.00.
You have to keep them frozen all the time. They are only good 6 months. They did not help.

I assume plasma tears = serum tears?

Ouch! $1500 is so much money - we're lucky here since it only costs me $25 to get my blood drawn every 3 mo, and about $75 that I pay the pharmacy for putting my serum in eye dropper bottles (also every 3 mo.)

Not wanting to rub it in re: my price being cheaper, but only mentioning it so people know that the price can vary a LOT depending on where you live. Trying serum tears isn't necessarily so expensive as it was for you.

Wow though... I feel for you - that would be so disappointing after spending so much money!

[Katewest]

Was the 1500.00 for the 6 month supply? That seems kinda insane. Where did you get them done Linda?

[Cali]

Linda - please clarify, did you get "platelet-rich plasma” drops or "autologous serum drops." They are different. Note, blood that contains platelets provides a higher concentration of essential growth factors.

Maybe that is the price of platelet drops? I don't know of anyone on this forum getting the "platelet-rich plasma" drops. Most are "autologous serum drops." And they are "viable" for 6 months in the freezer but really, they are only "stable" for 3 months in the freezer (the autologous drops).

Leitner's (in San Jose, near SF), charges $18.50/5ml bottle (autologous serum). Leitner's is in Silicon Valley (tech center of the world!) - VERY expensive area to live so their prices are high compared to the rest of the country (United States).

One of the moderators, indrep wrote: “Autologous drops are an attempt to reverse the osmolarity of the ocular surface. They are not necessarily for comfort. It takes about 60-90 days for the osmolarity to change and then the healing process of cells takes another 60-90 days. Any nerve issues can take longer.” Also, you need to be dropping every 2 hours. Anything less than that will not help you per Dr. Pedram Hamrah (per a forum posting on this site). He's done quite a bit of clinical studies on the drops. And you are right, they do heal multiple layers of the cornea, from the surface to the corneal subbasal nerve plexus. See: http://kenes.com/iser2012/abstractcd/pdf/O320.pdf

If you could clarify the type of drops you got, the area where you live, and how long you have been using them (and how many times/day), your RX (are your drops 20%, 50%, 75%, 100% serum?) that might help clarify things. Are you keeping your open dropper in the fridge (note, only viable for up the 7 days in the fridge).

Possibly you got ripped off on price. The price seems excessively high to me, actually shocking. But I'm not sure you need to give up yet on whether or not they are working for you. The price concerns me. It might mean something about the type of drops they created for you. I'm a layman, but that price it outrageous.

[spmcc]

Hankm9 got plasma drops (see his post here: http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...5936#post75936 and he has more info in later posts). He mentions Dr. Jarka in St Louis MO and said he paid $250.00 for 6 bottles of plasma drops (he estimates that's approx a 6-month supply).

That thread has lots of info re: plasma drops (also called E-PRP) versus serum drops. Like SAAG, I paid almost nothing for my serum drops ($0 for blood draw, ~$45 for bottling). $1500 is a lot to pay for drops! That's frustrating that they didn't work for you.

[Cali]

So per spmcc I read the post on plasma drops by Hankm9. Smpcc quoted him correctly:

PLASMA DROPS

"The charge was $250.00 for the 6 bottles. And quite frankly, one bottle lasts a long time, between 3 - 4 weeks in my experience. So for $250 you get around a 6 month supply."

"I was given 6 bottles. 5 of them must be kept frozen, and can remain frozen for a very long period of time (you will end up using them before they expire). The bottle you use (your active one), must be kept refrigerated. To activate the platelets you just need to gently shake the bottle side to side and then instil 1 drop in each eye twice a day."

So Linda, something is wrong if you paid $1,500 for a 6 month supply for plasma drops or even I'm thinking even autologous serum drops? They might be autologous serum drops and you're paying a lot per dropper? Still that price seems wrong and you shouldn't want a 6 months supply of autologous drops anyways.

[hankm9]

////////////////

[Dog2012]

I just today was advised by doctor from University of Irvine in CA to start with 100% autologous serum drops...i payed $ 100 first time and been told will be $ 50 next time..not sure how many bottles i will get ?
Do you think i can ask doctor about putting me on platelet-rich plasma” drops ..is it available ...Please let me know ?

[Cali]

The amount of serum in everyone's blood is different. I'm not sure how they are pricing the droppers and how they are quoting you. That price seems low to me. 100 mls of blood after spun down gives you 40%-60% serum. Which isn't much at 100%. When are you going to get the blood drawn? I'd like to Private Message you. I'm going to UC Irvine Medical Center for my blood draw and my drops are being made at a compounding pharmacy in Newport Beach. Would like to compare prices. Didn't know UC Irvine could make the drops.

I didn't get many droppers my first time out at 100% serum. They have to draw a lot of blood to get you enough serum for a couple months.

NOTE: It's less expensive at 100% because the pharmacist doesn't gave to take the time to add in the BSS (preservative free saline solution). You get more bottles at 20, 50 and 75% serum, so it's more expensive and typically priced out per dropper. Less droppers, less work for the pharmacist at 100% but you have to get a blood draw more often.

Can you send me a private message and let me now who you are seeing at UC Irvine? And if your cost is better, I will definitely switch over. Also sent you a PM last night about the Arizona Dry Eye place.

[Guest]

I didn't get many droppers my first time out at 100% serum. They have to draw a lot of blood to get you enough serum for a couple months.

...you have to get a blood draw more often.

Just thought I'd chime in to say that not everyone will need to get their blood drawn more often.

I know now how many ml's of blood they need to take from me in order to get enough 100% serum for a 3 mo. supply - so I still go only every 3 mo, even though I'm on 100% serum. (I use 1 drop in each eye 4 times daily... if you use more than that, you'll need more blood taken than I do.)

However, I have large, easy-to-see veins, so that helps, and they are even able to draw the whole 117 ml (13 x 9 ml vials) of blood from one vein - this usually gives me about 47ml of serum. If someone has the kind of veins that collapse after a few vials, then they'd have to split the draw between 2 arms I guess... and if the veins wouldn't even last long enough that way, then I guess you would indeed have to come more often than every 3 mo.

[Fitch]

i have found the serum tears to be extremely helpful. I spend about $330 for a 3-4 month supply. I have noticed improvement in my vision and my dryness level after using for only 1 month. I use them as regular eyedrops but also mix them with the saline in my scleral lenses made by dr. G and that seems to strengthen and speed up the healing since i wear my sclerals 9-13 hours a day so all that good healing is happening right on my eye during that whole time instead of draining away. I think that i got results alot faster since i use them with sclerals but i think they would be beneficial just using as regular eyedrops at least 8 times a day. For me the biggest game changers for my post lasik pain and dryness have been dr. G's custom sclerals and now the blood serum drops. I am on 50 percent serum (any more than that in my sclerals obsures my vision too much otherwise i would go 100 percent if not using with sclerals) Restasis unfortunately did nothing for me but the blood serum drops are great. Everyone is different in how much serum their blood yields but i got 33 2ml serum bottles from 23 blood vials. I work with Glen at Newport Beach Compounding Pharmacy in California and he provides excellent fast service. Also, I highly recommend seeing Dr. Greg Gemoules in Dallas for custom scleral lenses if you can pay out of pocket. His lenses are truely fit to your individual eyes (unlike trial sizes that everyone else including BFS i think uses). The very first set of lenses he gave me i wore four hours with good comfort. After 1 week i was up to 8 hours and now after 6 months wear daily for 8-13 hours with excellent comfort and vision and use aquify drops maybe once or twice all day if needed. I am still in work in progress with this but every day seems to get a little bit better. I wish all of you success in beating your eye issues and am so thankful every day that i found this forum as none of my opthamalogists suggested scleral lenses or blood serum drops and kept trying to tell me that the pain was all in my head and that it would get better if i just wait. Foolishly i waited for almost a year of pain before taking action myself and getting the sclerals and blood serum. If you have the means to do so i highly recommend being your own advocate as the eye professionals i saw (many world renowned) wrote me off. Dr. Gemoules was the only eye professional that ever listened to me out of the 12 or so experts i consulted. Bless all of you and Good Wishes for Healing!

[LindaT]

Plasma Tears

Linda - please clarify, did you get "platelet-rich plasma” drops or "autologous serum drops." They are different. Note, blood that contains platelets provides a higher concentration of essential growth factors.

Maybe that is the price of platelet drops? I don't know of anyone on this forum getting the "platelet-rich plasma" drops. Most are "autologous serum drops." And they are "viable" for 6 months in the freezer but really, they are only "stable" for 3 months in the freezer (the autologous drops).

Leitner's (in San Jose, near SF), charges $18.50/5ml bottle (autologous serum). Leitner's is in Silicon Valley (tech center of the world!) - VERY expensive area to live so their prices are high compared to the rest of the country (United States).

One of the moderators, indrep wrote: “Autologous drops are an attempt to reverse the osmolarity of the ocular surface. They are not necessarily for comfort. It takes about 60-90 days for the osmolarity to change and then the healing process of cells takes another 60-90 days. Any nerve issues can take longer.” Also, you need to be dropping every 2 hours. Anything less than that will not help you per Dr. Pedram Hamrah (per a forum posting on this site). He's done quite a bit of clinical studies on the drops. And you are right, they do heal multiple layers of the cornea, from the surface to the corneal subbasal nerve plexus. See: http://kenes.com/iser2012/abstractcd/pdf/O320.pdf

If you could clarify the type of drops you got, the area where you live, and how long you have been using them (and how many times/day), your RX (are your drops 20%, 50%, 75%, 100% serum?) that might help clarify things. Are you keeping your open dropper in the fridge (note, only viable for up the 7 days in the fridge).

Possibly you got ripped off on price. The price seems excessively high to me, actually shocking. But I'm not sure you need to give up yet on whether or not they are working for you. The price concerns me. It might mean something about the type of drops they created for you. I'm a layman, but that price it outrageous.

I did not know it would cost that much either. I went to Baylor College of Optamology. MY insurance has a $3000.00 ded. I pay everything up to $3000.00. So it paid nothing. The drops were in little IV tubes that were cut into little pieces about an inch long. You keep them frozen. Get one out at a time cut the end off and use the entire tube. They said 6 months life in the freezer. They did not help. I used them for 6 months many times a day because I am so uncomfortable all day.

[LindaT]

Baylor College of Medicine. Insurance did not pay anything. $3000.00 ded.

[LindaT]

I had albumin first. They were in several bottles. You keep them frozen except for the one you are using. That one is good about 5 days in fridge. They were only about 60.00 for a month supply.
They also, did not help.