One in four patients attending ophthalmic clinics report symptoms of dry eye, making it one of the most common complaints seen by ophthalmologists. Aqueous-layer deficiency is the most common form of dry eye and is frequently caused by decreased secretion of tears by the lacrimal glands. Evaporative dry eye is often secondary to meibomian gland disease and results in a defective lipid layer. Tear replacement or preservation using artificial tears and/or punctal occlusion are the mainstay of treatment. Newer forms of therapy were designed to modify the underlying disease process. These include the use of topical cyclosporin A, autologous serum, and sodium hyaluronate drops, which suppress underlying inflammation, provide growth factors, and prevent the onset of squamous metaplasia in ocular surface epithelium. Hormonal therapy might have a role in the future of dry eye therapy.
Aims-This study was designed to assess the relative efficacy of topical ganciclovir 0.15% gel and acyclovir 3/o ointment in the treatment of herpes simplex dendritic keratitis. Methods-Both treatment modalities were administered on a five times daily basis to patients suffering from herpes simplex keratitis. Patients were assigned randomly to one of the two treatment groups for the purpose of the trial. They were then examined on days 2, 7, 10, and 14 to assess the rate of healing of the dendritic ulceration. Results-There was no statistically significant difference detected in the rate of healing between the two treatment groups over the course of the trial. Conclusions-Review of the relative efficacy of topical ganciclovir and acyclovir in the treatment of herpes simplex dendritic keratitis showed that both treatment modalities were equally effective in their ability to heal the viral induced corneal ulceration. There were no significant side effects or adverse effects reported for either treatment modality.
Acyclovir has been shown to be superior to IDU in the treatment of experimental corneal infections with HSV in the rabbit'5 and has also shown promise in treating dendritic ulceration in man. In patients treated with minimal wipe debridement Jones et al. '6 showed that topical treatment with acyclovir prevented early recurrences in comparison with placebo.
Posterior capsule opacification is still a major complication of both extracapsular cataract extraction and phacoemulsification. We evaluated the effects of the anti-proliferative agent daunomycin on cultured human and bovine lens epithelial cell viability and proliferation. After ten minutes of exposure, low concentrations of the agent markedly inhibited the proliferation of both cell types. The calculated LD50 for the drug against human cells was 2.20 micrograms/ml and against the bovine cells was 0.38 microgram/ml. The bovine cells appeared to be slightly more susceptible to the drug's effects, although this difference was not marked. Our results indicate that daunomycin is a potent inhibitor of both human and bovine lens epithelial cells in the laboratory.
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