Making my own serum tears

[hosanna13]

My name is Gina and I've been suffering from dry eyes and pain (in my right eye only) post-LASIK. It's been about 6 months.

I decided to start making my own serum tears. I'm a medical student with years of experience working in research labs, so hopefully I'll know what I'm doing. I found instructions on the web to isolate serum from whole blood. I've bought the necessary equipment (centrifuge, needles, tubes, etc) online. I'll have another med school friend draw my blood (this is how we practice anyway lol)

http://www.proimmune.com/ecommerce/pdf_files/PR31.pdf

My plan is to start with 25% serum and work my way up to 100% necessary.

If you are currently on serum tears, I have questions:
1) How do you store your tears? Does it have to be refrigerated? How about if you are outside and have no access to refrigerators?
2) Do you need to be on antibiotics while you're on serum tears?

My current regimen:
Restasis 2x day, Freshkote 2x day
Omega 3 supplements

Thanks,

Gina

[Guest]

I get my serum in 3ml bottles. The bottle currently in use is stored in the refrigerator. The remaining bottles are stored in my deepfreezer (temps there are colder than the freezer attached to my fridge).

Cold storage is crucial since a) that slows the breakdown of the "active ingredients" of the serum and b) it slows microbial growth in the event that you accidentally contaminate your bottle of serum

I get mine in 3ml bottles so that each bottle is used up within 4 days or so - that's a threshold that I'm comfortable with in terms of risk of bacterial contamination. Mind are sterile when I receive them from the pharmacy since they transfer the serum to the eyedropper bottles in a sterile laminar flow hood - the only way bacteria will get in there is if I contaminate them myself, or bacteria drift over in an air current onto the dropper tip etc.

Some people get theirs in 5ml bottles, or even 10ml bottles... it all depends on what you are comfortable with.

Also, the less time they are thawed, the more potent they will be - the warmer they get (ie. fridge cold is warmer than frozen for example), the faster the active components degrade, and the less effective the drops will be. So the 3ml bottle also helps ensure the bottle currently in use stays as potent as possible (ie. my 3ml bottle is only thawed for around 4 days before it's used up whereas if I were using 10ml bottles, it would be thawed for over 12 days allowing more time for the active ingredients to break down by the end of the bottle)

If I need to bring them with me, I use an insulated carrier with an icepack for them to keep them cold. For air travel I bring along an insulin carrier with an icepack - that keeps them mostly frozen until I arrive at my destination and can re-freeze them (and refrigerate the bottle currently in use). The airlines allow this because mine have a prescription label from the pharmacy indicating that they require storage at frozen temps - if you are making them yourself, you won't have this, so not sure how that would work in your case.

You do not need to be on antibiotics when using serum drops. I assume you asked that because you were concerned about infection from the serum drops themselves? The blood is sterile when you draw it since it goes into a sealed sterile vial. When you draw off the serum and transfer it to the eyedropper bottles, just make sure you do it in a sterile laminar flow hood to maintain sterility. If you do that, you should be fine. (and of course, take the usual precautions to avoid contaminating them once you start using them).

[hosanna13]

I get my serum in 3ml bottles. The bottle currently in use is stored in the refrigerator. The remaining bottles are stored in my deepfreezer (temps there are colder than the freezer attached to my fridge).

Cold storage is crucial since a) that slows the breakdown of the "active ingredients" of the serum and b) it slows microbial growth in the event that you accidentally contaminate your bottle of serum

I get mine in 3ml bottles so that each bottle is used up within 4 days or so - that's a threshold that I'm comfortable with in terms of risk of bacterial contamination. Mind are sterile when I receive them from the pharmacy since they transfer the serum to the eyedropper bottles in a sterile laminar flow hood - the only way bacteria will get in there is if I contaminate them myself, or bacteria drift over in an air current onto the dropper tip etc.

Some people get theirs in 5ml bottles, or even 10ml bottles... it all depends on what you are comfortable with.

Also, the less time they are thawed, the more potent they will be - the warmer they get (ie. fridge cold is warmer than frozen for example), the faster the active components degrade, and the less effective the drops will be. So the 3ml bottle also helps ensure the bottle currently in use stays as potent as possible (ie. my 3ml bottle is only thawed for around 4 days before it's used up whereas if I were using 10ml bottles, it would be thawed for over 12 days allowing more time for the active ingredients to break down by the end of the bottle)

If I need to bring them with me, I use an insulated carrier with an icepack for them to keep them cold. For air travel I bring along an insulin carrier with an icepack - that keeps them mostly frozen until I arrive at my destination and can re-freeze them (and refrigerate the bottle currently in use). The airlines allow this because mine have a prescription label from the pharmacy indicating that they require storage at frozen temps - if you are making them yourself, you won't have this, so not sure how that would work in your case.

You do not need to be on antibiotics when using serum drops. I assume you asked that because you were concerned about infection from the serum drops themselves? The blood is sterile when you draw it since it goes into a sealed sterile vial. When you draw off the serum and transfer it to the eyedropper bottles, just make sure you do it in a sterile laminar flow hood to maintain sterility. If you do that, you should be fine. (and of course, take the usual precautions to avoid contaminating them once you start using them).

Hi SAAG,

Thanks so much for your input! Your posts have always been very informative and helpful.
Since I'll be doing this in my home, I'll need to be very careful about contamination. I've decided to just go ahead and start with 100% serum since I read that mixing with saline solution can degrade the proteins faster.

Some more questions: Should serum be clear or slightly cloudy? How many times a day are you dropping your serum?

Thanks!
Gina

[Guest]

I'm using 100% serum 4 times per day. Mine is pretty clear - it's kind of an orange-ish colour.

You were probably going to do this anyways, but be sure to wipe down your work area with 70% rubbing alcohol to disinfect it, and make sure there are no drafts.

Also, if you have the option of 99% isopropyl alcohol or 70% for disinfection of your work area, choose the 70% since it is a more effective disinfectant than the 99% (counter-intuitive, I know... but true nonetheless)

Good luck!

[hosanna13]

Thanks for the tip! I'll update once I make the first batch after all the equipment arrives.
Take care,
Gina

[Guest]

Cool - looking forward to hearing how it goes!

[hosanna13]

UPDATE:

So today I made my first bottle of serum tears. It was a clear, orange-yellow liquid as SAAG described. I will be using 100% serum, 4x day. I just put in my first drop, and it didn't sting.

Here are some of the difficulties I ran into:

I'm a hard stick. I could only draw 1.5 tubes before the blood stopped flowing. I only have 1 viable vein in my arms, so I foresee this as a problem in the future. For those of you who get routine blood draws, do you give blood easily? I'm afraid that it won't be long before I can't draw any blood from my arms. I also tried my hand, but the vein rolled around and I couldn't get any blood. Perhaps I need to visit a professional phlebologist
SAAG, I know you've been on serum tears for years, but are blood draws becoming increasingly difficult due to scar tissue/damage to veins?

Thanks,

Gina

[Guest]

Hi Gina,

I've been on serum since March 2010. I get blood drawn from my right arm every 3 months, 13-15 of the 9 ml vials at a time. Fortunately, the big juicy elbow veins that I've been self conscious of all my life, really come in handy for my serum drops - they have no trouble getting blood from them, and only require one needle poke to get all those vials at once.

I haven't noticed any difference in difficulty to get the blood, if anything, it seems very easy for them. The lab techs drawing my blood have remarked that I am very unusual in that my vein will allow them to take so many vials of blood at once.

In your case, maybe it will get easier for you with practice? Or maybe a professional phlebologist will have better luck since they do this all the time? Crossing my fingers for you!!!

I have a new sympathy for people with smaller veins now! Although they look much nicer than mine, it sounds like they are not as functional when you need to get anything from them.

[farmgirl]

Hi Gina:

I have been on serum drops for a year and a half. I was in Panama when I started and there is no pharmacy there that makes them so I had a Dr. friend draw the blood for me and spin it down and draw out the plasma for me into a syringe. I then got individual eye drop vials called Lagircel (not available here in Canada) but Systane vials would work. I was making 50% so I would squeeze out drops until the vial was 1/2 empty and then with the syringe fill it up with the serum being very careful not to touch the needle to anything but the vial. I prepared a clean area and used sterile rubber gloves. I then immediately froze the vials. Each vial would last about 4 days applying the drops every 4 hours or 4x per day. I used these for about 14 months until this year when I finally got some made here in Canada at a local pharmacy. My contraband drops worked every bit as well as the ones I got here. I was told by the pharmacy here that they would keep in the refrigerator for 10 days which is about how long it takes me to use up a bottle.

I will say that I have had up to 18 tubes of blood drawn at a time for lab work and 10 vials for the serum so like SAAG I have nice big juicy veins. Maybe try one in a leg or foot if you have nothing in the arms or hands. Also make sure that you drink LOTS of water before you do the blood draw as the only time I have ever had problems with my veins was one time I was dehydrated and the vein collapsed during an IV treatment....good luck...F/G