For the first time ever...

[buntbean]

In 8+ years I've never had an eye doctor mention these drops. I have MGD and lack of tears and I have to use pres-free tears every 15 min. Do you still use artificial tears if you use blood serum drops?

Wow if only I could have said THAT to the tech! Maybe I'll call back hehe. Ok Saag-have you heard about 100% being more effective than 25% or 50%?

I had seen an abstract ages ago that suggested that efficacy of serum drops increase with increasing concentration. However, I've been looking for it to print out for the last few years, and haven't been able to find the darned thing again. However, take the results with a grain of salt... it was a small study, so you never know... the results may not turn out to be true if they someday did a super large study of thousands of patients (will prob. never happen since not enough people on serum drops I bet)

Anyhow, this study is the reason why I chose to try the 100% serum. I started out on 50%, then after 3mo. switched to 100%. I didn't notice any obvious difference in efficacy between the 2 strengths, but I like the way the 100% serum feels on my eyeball better, so I've stuck with it.

Pretty much any study I've seen on serum drops is on the small side... so really, there is still a lot of "educated guessing" going on as far as what is really the best strength, how long are the drops good for in the freezer, how long are they good for in the fridge etc. No-one's fault about the guessing, there just isn't good enough info out there to know for sure what the right answer is.

[Faith1989]

oh ok.. yeah my pressures havent really gone up, but this is a worry for me as well. I try my best not to have to use them, and try to use other ways of keeping the inflammation down. It is just unfortunate that the other ways take so much longer to work lol my eyes also look veiny, my right eye is also the worse one. It is really weird but my left eye doesn't get inflammed, it is the more normal eye. I am happy the serum is a step in the right direction for you. good luck!

[No tears in ATL]

My doctor said i can safely use 1 drop of preservative free pred safely once every few days, and everyday during flare ups. Why don't you use a preservative free one every few days to keep the inflammation down. Kind of like just a maintenance dose? I have gone 3-4 days without a drop, then i'll use it just once. Apparantly my doctor is really "not to worried" is how he put it. lol

My pressure went up recently, but not to emergency levels. They wanted me off steroids cold turkey and mentioned me being too young for cataracts. It was hard getting off them, took about 2 weeks to ween off, but maybe he has a point if I am a pressure risk.

[Faith1989]

My doctor said i can safely use 1 drop of preservative free pred safely once every few days, and everyday during flare ups. Why don't you use a preservative free one every few days to keep the inflammation down. Kind of like just a maintenance dose? I have gone 3-4 days without a drop, then i'll use it just once. Apparantly my doctor is really "not to worried" is how he put it. lol

[No tears in ATL]

Neil how can you try this in Australia ? I thought the dr has to request for the higher concentration and Im not sure if its even within red cross guidelines to do more than 20% serum .
But whenever i ask my Dr about higher concentration or plasma he gives me a puzzle look and says no.

Im going in for another collection very soon so will b interested to hear how u go convincing ur Dr for higher concentration.

The no saline would b good but increased growth factors may b bad for glands ...i really have no idea. ...

Has anyone here with MGD had problems with 100 percent? SAAG, aren't you on 100 percent? Anyone else with MGD?

[No tears in ATL]

Faith, to answer your question, my eyes are pretty veiny looking, in my opinion (especially my right eye, which has a small pingueculae) and the veins get bigger and redder the more inflamed I become. Also, the inner corners and rims of the eyes become quite red during flareups. The veins will always be there, unfortunately, but I guess they are not as red and pronounced when the inflammation is down. The eyes don't look as great as when I used steroid drops, but they are somewhere in the middle right now with the serum. I've also tried to do a decent job of getting enough sleep, because if I don't, all heck breaks loose and we are back to square one with mega flareups.

[soaps]

Serum % - my wife is thinking about going on to serum so I am trying to research it. I am reading any medical journal articles on it that I can find. So far I have read only 3, but 2 of these have said that about 25% serum is the most effective. One of these, based upon laborotary experiments even said higher concentration led to poorer outcomes. Mind you, this was a very small experimental study.

Neil how can you try this in Australia ? I thought the dr has to request for the higher concentration and Im not sure if its even within red cross guidelines to do more than 20% serum .
But whenever i ask my Dr about higher concentration or plasma he gives me a puzzle look and says no.

Im going in for another collection very soon so will b interested to hear how u go convincing ur Dr for higher concentration.

The no saline would b good but increased growth factors may b bad for glands ...i really have no idea. ...

[No tears in ATL]

will get my serum next week, just can't wait for it! but its only 20%, is it too weak ??

I would just try it and see how you feel. I started out with 50, went to 75, but 100 percent seems to be the sweet spot. Some folks use lower concentrations and do well. I may be the rare case of the super sensitive eyes, is all.

[No tears in ATL]

Serum % - my wife is thinking about going on to serum so I am trying to research it. I am reading any medical journal articles on it that I can find. So far I have read only 3, but 2 of these have said that about 25% serum is the most effective. One of these, based upon laborotary experiments even said higher concentration led to poorer outcomes. Mind you, this was a very small experimental study.

That's interesting. Although 100% might not in fact yield better outcomes than 25%, it seems that it wouldn't necessarily lead to worse outcomes than 25%. Confusing study...any idea what the problem was?

[neilw]

Serum % - my wife is thinking about going on to serum so I am trying to research it. I am reading any medical journal articles on it that I can find. So far I have read only 3, but 2 of these have said that about 25% serum is the most effective. One of these, based upon laborotary experiments even said higher concentration led to poorer outcomes. Mind you, this was a very small experimental study.

[Katewest]

Wow if only I could have said THAT to the tech! Maybe I'll call back hehe. Ok Saag-have you heard about 100% being more effective than 25% or 50%?

Moran Eye Center only does 25% because that is the equipment they have.

That makes no sense whatsoever. The person telling you that did not know what they were talking about (well-meaning as they may have been). They centrifuge your blood, the serum ends up on top - the pharmacy (or whoever prepares the serum drops), then does the following:

For 25% serum drops - they put 1 part serum (which they have to measure as they remove it from the top layer of contents in the vial of centrifuged blood) into an eyedropper bottle, then add 3 parts saline or artificial tears - shake to mix, and voila! 25% serum drops!

For 100% serum drops - they remove the layer of serum from the vial of centrifuged blood, and simply transfer it into eye drop bottles. Zero special equipment needed. It is LESS work for them, actually, compared to making 25%, or 50%, or 75% since they don't have to measure anything.

Aaaaaand, now that you know that, if you ever decide that you really want to try 100% serum, you'll know that it's not lack of equipment preventing them from making it that strength, but a lack of willingness to do so hehe

[Katewest]

My insurance covered it but I still had like a 60 or 100 copay cant remember. Faith- I went to a hormone doc today and am getting my blood work back Wed. She thinks I'm deficient in estrogen and that might be making me worse. I'll let you know since it sounds like we have a lot of the same symtoms.

[Faith1989]

i have 100%, it helps but wouldn't pay what it costs in the U.S. In Canada, i get 65 bottles for 200.00. This lasts me one year! I don't personally think they are worth more than that. But this is just my opinion. If I didn't have MGD, maybe it would be great, but since it doesn't help that, it doesnt help me as much as I'd like it to.