Tear provides duration of relief

Key Points

Dr. Buznego and co-author William Trattler, MD, also in private practice in Miami, performed a multicenter, open-label, non-comparative study in which they evaluated patients' symptoms of mild to moderate dry eye and the effect of the over-the-counter (OTC) dry eye tear remedy.

A total of 939 patients from 121 practices participated (714 women; 225 men; mean age, 53 years). The patients used the lubricating eye drops for an average of 33 days. They and their physicians also completed a questionnaire that measured the pre-treatment and post-treatment ocular symptoms.

All of the signs and symptoms-overall dry eye, ocular redness, burning, irritation, and discomfort-that were evaluated decreased significantly (p < 0.001) after 1 month of treatment compared with baseline.

Patients were asked the following question: "Compared [with] the artificial tear you were using in the past, how long do you notice relief from your eye symptom(s) when using Blink Tears?" The responses indicated that 67% of all patients found a greater duration of relief from their dry eye symptoms with Blink Tears compared with the artificial tears they had been using previously. The patients indicated that they had previously used other artificial tear products (Systane, Alcon Laboratories; Refresh Optive and Refresh Tears, both from Allergan).

The physicians were asked: "How would you rate the lasting effect of Blink Tears in relieving symptoms of dry eye compared [with] other OTC artificial tear products you have prescribed in the past?" Results indicated that 73% of the 117 physicians who responded to the questionnaire reported that this particular lubricating eye drop provided a longer-lasting effect in relieving dry eye symptoms compared with other OTC artificial tear products they had prescribed previously.

Based on these results, Drs. Buznego and Trattler concluded that Blink Tears provided greater duration of relief in this large cohort of patients with mild to moderate dry eye and that patients also had a significant improvement in all evaluated dry eye symptoms.

"[This lubricating eye drop's] unique hyaluronic acid formulation gives it tremendous lubricity that is likely responsible for the excellent results seen in this study," Dr. Buznego said. "This study confirms [the product's] efficacy in symptomatic relief plus its duration of the effect."

FYI

Carlos Buznego, MD
E-mail: cbuz@comcast.net

This study was supported by Abbott Medical Optics (AMO). Dr. Buznego has received funding for research, consulting, and/or speaking from Alcon, Allergan, AMO, Bausch + Lomb; CXL-USA, Glaukos, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, ISTA Pharmaceuticals, LensAR, and QLTi. Dr. Buznego is an equity owner in RPS.

William Trattler, MD
E-mail: wtrattler@gmail.com

Dr. Trattler has received funding for research, consulting, and/or speaking from Alcon, Allergan, AMO, CXL-USA, Fera Pharmaceuticals, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, ISTA Pharmaceuticals, LensAR, QLTi, TearScience, and WaveTec.