Oral antioxidant therapy for marginal dry eye

The objective of this research was to assess the efficacy of an orally administered antioxidant dietary supplement for managing marginal dry eye. Forty marginal dry eye sufferers composed of 30 females and 10 males (median age 53 y; range 38-69 y) were studied. Baseline assessments were made of tear volume sufficiency (thread test), tear quality (stability), ocular surface status (conjunctival impression cytology) and dry eye symptoms (questionnaire). Each subject was administered courses of active treatment, placebo and no treatment, in random order for 1 month each and results compared to baseline. Tear stability and ocular surface status were significantly improved following active treatment (P0.05). Absolute increase in tear stability correlated with absolute change in goblet cell population density. Tear volume was not improved following any treatment period and dry eye symptom responses were subject to placebo effect. Oral antioxidants improved both tear stability and conjunctival health, although it is not yet understood whether increased ocular surface health mediates increased tear stability or vice versa.