To determine whether a fall in tear osmolarity precedes improvement in symptoms and signs of dry eye in dry eye patients treated topically with 5% lifitegrast drops for 3 months.
A longitudinal, single-arm, prospective study will recruit up to 30 subjects with moderate to severe dry eye disease. Subjects will be \>18 years of age, diagnosed with moderate to severe dry eye (tear osmolarity \> 320 mOsm/L and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score \> 40), willing to adhere to twice daily dosing (BID) and follow up visit schedule, have no history of ocular pathology / degeneration / allergy, not on any T-cell modulatory therapy, not have instilled any artificial tears within 2 hours of study visit, and not participating in any concurrent clinical trials. All subjects will complete an informed consent form indicating their voluntary participation in the study. Study measurements will be made at baseline (first clinic visit), 2-, 6-, and 12-weeks following Lifitegrast therapy and include tear osmolarity (TearLab osmolarity system), VAS questionnaire, slit lamp examination for fluorescein corneal staining, tear break up time (TBUT), and Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) grading . At the end of the 3-mo study visit, the subjects will be informed of study completion and exited from the study.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
30
All subjects meet dry eye inclusion and will be treated with Lifitegrast gtts BID
Lifelong Vision Foundation
Chesterfield, Missouri, United States
Primary: Tear osmolarity
Number of participants with an improvement in Tear Osmolarity measured using the Tear Osmolarity score treated with Lifitegrast.
Time frame: Baseline to the study completion, up to 3 months.
VAS
Participants self scored mean average on a scale of 0: none to 10: severe of Eye Dryness, Burning/Stinging, Foreign Body Sensation, Pain, Photophobia, Itching, and Blurred Vision.
Time frame: VAS dry eye questionnaire, tear break up time and meibomian gland grading will be serially measured over 3 months during treatment with Lifitegrast gtts
Corneal Staining Grade
Percentage of cornea with cell loss/fluorescein dye uptake. The higher the percentage the higher the grade.
Time frame: Baseline to the study completion, up to 3 months.
TBUT
Tear Film Break-Up Time; measurement of seconds it take for the tear film to start evaporating from the cornea.
Time frame: Baseline to the study completion, up to 3 months.
MGD grade
Visual grading of Meibomian gland clogging.
Time frame: Baseline to the study completion, up to 3 months.
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