What is the future of ocular lubricants in dry eye treatment?
Léa Surugue looks at the dynamic expansion of next-generation artificial tears, and asks what other tailored products are emerging.
The TFOS DEWS II report of 2017 established the idea that dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disorder. Manifesting itself with varying degrees of severity, DED requires a variety of treatment approaches. Research has been moving along quickly to discover new products that can best address this complexity, while recognising the difficulty of finding a universal treatment for all.
Until now, traditional ocular lubricants have tended to offer patients only a palliative approach to dry eye symptom management, without necessarily trying to resolve the causes of the disorder.
Jennifer Craig FCOptom, Vice-Chair and one of the lead authors of the TFOS DEWS II report, explains: “New lubricants are working harder than ever to address the different reasons people have dry eyes, which often requires complex combinations of features within the drops.
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