Tear lipid supplement prophylaxis against dry eye in adverse environments.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Copper (Supplement).

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

Thirty subjects with mild-to-moderate dry eye symptoms participated in the prospective, randomised, double-masked, paired-eye trial.

Subjects were subsequently exposed to a validated simulated adverse environment model created by a standing fan directed towards the eye, at a distance of 1m, for 2.5min.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized and double-blind study.

Because people in this Copper (Supplement) study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

As a double-blind Copper (Supplement) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A lipomimetic drop (Systane® Balance) was applied to one eye (randomised), and a non-lipid containing drop (Systane® Ultra) applied simultaneously to the contralateral eye.

Low contrast glare acuity, lipid layer grade (LLG), non-invasive tear break-up time (NIBUT), temperature variation factor (TVF), and tear meniscus height (TMH) were evaluated at baseline, following eye drop instillation and following simulated adverse environment exposure.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Dry Eye Syndromes, Lipids, Ophthalmic Solutions, Polyethylene Glycols and Tears.

Author keywords: Artificial tears, Lipid layer, Lipid supplement, Tear film and Tear film stability.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized and double-blind study of Copper (Supplement).

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2018 (Contact lens & anterior eye : the journal of the British Contact Lens Association), a journal based in England.

More context: the Copper (Supplement) compound page, all human trials.