Combined Esterified Estrogen and Methyltestosterone Treatment for Dry Eye Syndrome in Postmenopausal Women
Presented in part at the American Academy of Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, Anaheim, California, November, 2003.
Accepted 15 November 2004.
Purpose
To determine whether systemic replacement with combined esterified estrogen (EE) and methyltestosterone (MT) (EE + MT) would reduce symptoms and promote clinical improvement in postmenopausal women with dry eye syndrome (DES).
Design
Retrospective, noncomparative, interventional case series.
Methods
Investigators reviewed the charts of 11 postmenopausal women treated within the last 3 years with EE + MT.
Results
The mean patient age was 65.2 years (standard deviation [SD] 11.4, range 48–84 years). The mean treatment duration was 12.2 months (SD 6.2 months, range 4–24 months). Ten (91%) of 11 patients reported improvement in dry eye symptoms while receiving treatment. For these 10, relief occurred after an average of 4.1 months of treatment (SD 3.2, range, 1–9 months).
Conclusions
Treatment with EE + MT may be efficacious for DES of various etiologies. A randomized placebo-controlled trial is planned to further evaluate these encouraging findings.
aOcular Surface Center, Doheny Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California
bDepartment of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Inquiries to Samuel C. Yiu, MD, PhD, 1450 San Pablo Street DEI5704, Los Angeles, CA 90033; fax: (323) 442-6515;
Supported by an unrestricted grant from Research to Prevent Blindness, New York, New York, NEI grant EYO3040, and by a Baxter Foundation Junior Faculty Award to Dr. Yiu.
ABSTRACT