Experimental Dry Eye Treatment

[Vicki In Oregon]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=12759865

The link above is what interested me. The link below I am posting because I thought someone could explain it to me. Maybe I am dumb but I just dont get it. Thanks.

http://www.djo.harvard.edu/site.php?...sicians/oa/779

[YGB]

The first article looks interesting. However, the one item related to it that confuses me is why is the article dated 3/22/03 and this is not real news aside from the publication?

I would think if the technique was as good as advertised in the study, we would have heard more about it by now. Maybe I just don't know enough about the timing of these publications, but from my layman's view, I'm .

[charmee]

I love how you guys find this stuff and post these links.

Regarding the first article, I gotta wonder if this operation was disfiguring. They don't really say where they run the tube on the face. It says
"...lateral part of the head, and entering the conjunctival sac over the lateral canthal ligament." I wonder how they look and feel now.


Regarding the second link, this is a good post for the doc. You are not stupid. I looked up Aqueous Humor, "The aqueous is the thin, watery fluid that fills the space between the cornea and the iris." http://www.stlukeseye.com/anatomy/Aqueous.asp

I think its saying that there's already an operation they do for glaucoma, where they drain off some of this fluid into the nasal passages, but they could instead drain it into the lids as a tear replacement. I am certainly over-simplifying, and I might be totally wrong. Anyway, they did one operation and there was a good outcome.

Charmee

[kakinda]

crocodile tears

Hi,
this is a method developed by Murube (a famous Spanish ophthalmologist) otherwise called "crocodile tears"...
I've only met one person who did this procedure and that person has now switched to scleral lenses, which doesn't mean that this isn't a very interesting lead for severe OSD (probably not for regular DE- too invase to be justified-, but Steven-Johnsons, insensitive corneas... severe cases of constant ulcerations and the like).
Hopefully, something "lighter" may be developed in the future to deliver permanent "wetting agents"...
Take care
K