Efficacy of topical carboxymethyl cellulose 0.5% and cyclosporine A 0.05% in dry eye syndrome

Context: Dry eyes has been associated with inflammation and apoptosis of the ocular surface which is responsible for conjunctival goblet cell loss in long term. Aim: To study the efficacy of carboxymethylcellulose and topical cyclosporine A 0.05% in the treatment of dry eyes and their effect on the density of conjunctival goblet cells (GCD). Settings and design: Hospital based, Randomized clinical trial. Methods and material: A total of 90 patients of dry eyes were enrolled and were randomly divided into two groups of 45 each. Group A was treated with topical cyclosporine A 0.05% twice daily and group B with preservative free carboxymethyl cellulose 0.5% (CMC) four times daily for 6 weeks. Different parameters like dry eye symptoms through visual analogue score (VAS), tear break up time (TBUT), Schirmer’s tests (SCH), fluorescein stain (FLU) and goblet cell density (GCD) were obtained prior to treatment and compared with the results after 6 weeks of treatment. Statistical analysis used: SPSS software, version 12.0. Results: After 6 weeks of treatment both the groups showed significant improvement from baseline values of all the parameters (p < 0.001). Comparison between these two groups after treatment showed that all the parameters except FLU score (p < 0.001) were statistically not significant. Conclusions: Both the topical CMC 0.5% and cyclosporine A 0.05% showed improvement of ocular surface at 6 weeks interval. However, there was no significant difference between the outcome of two groups. Subjects: Ophthalmology; Primary Health Care & Family Practice; Pharmaceutical Medicine