Abstract

Introduction: Dry eye disease is a multi-factorial disease with varied presentation of foreign body sensation with or without visual disturbance. When it is severe and refractory, it can lead to compromised quality of life. Aim & Objective: Efficacy and safety of oral Pilocarpine, 5mg in the treatment of severe dry eye disease. Method: 32 cases of refractory dry eye cases were given oral Pilocarpine 5 mg OD. Results: Mean improvement of 4.37 mm in Schirmer’s value and 3.03 seconds in TBUT were seen. The result was highly significant (p<0.001) for both TBUT and Schirmer’s test. 2 patients complained of sweating. Discussion: Pilocarpine is sialagogue for Sjögren’s syndrome and Is effective in dry eye. Our study shows similar effect of improvement who were otherwise refractory to tear film substitutes without significant adverse effects. Conclusion: Oral Pilocarpine 5 mg OD is safe and effective in severe dry eye disease in cases who are refractory to various tear film substitutes.

Full Text