The effect of a new tear substitute containing glycerol and hyaluronate on keratoconjunctivitis sicca.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of LO2A, a newly developed tear substitute containing glycerine and sodium hyaluronate, in the treatment of dry eyes. Twenty-five informed consent patients suffering from keratoconjunctivitis sicca were included. Patients were treated for one week with LO2A in one eye, and with their current tear substitute in the other eye. Rose bengal staining was evaluated on a scale of 0 to 3. Patient satisfaction was graded on a scale of 1 to 5. The average satisfaction score for LO2A was significantly higher compared to the control preparations at 1 week (p=0.0003) and at 2 weeks (p=0.0232). A highly significant reduction in rose bengal staining was demonstrated following 1 week of treatment with LO2A (p<0.0001). The LO2A treated eyes had significantly less staining than control eyes at 1 week (p=0.021) and at 2 weeks (p=0.023). An inverse correlation was found between patient grading and the rose bengal scoring (spearman rank coefficient = -0.49, p<0.001). LO2A showed a beneficiary effect on dry eye patient satisfaction and on rose bengal test, as compared to other tear substitute preparations currently used by these patients.