DRY EYE DISEASE (DED) & MENOPAUSE

Dry eye disease (DED) is multifactorial, damage of the ocular surface and dysfunction of tear production results in symptoms such discomfort, visual disturbance, and burning. These symptoms are accompanied by increased osmolarity of the tear film and inflammation of the ocular surface, which negatively affects a patient’s quality of life.

DED can be divided into two categories, aqueous deficient dry eye and evaporative dry eye. The first type is due to a defective lacrimal function and can be further classified into Sjögren’s dry eye (characterized by a slow, immune-mediated destruction of exocrine glands) and non-Sjögren’s dry eye. Evaporative dry eye can come from intrinsic causes such as lid related disorders and alterations of the lipid layer or extrinsic causes such as contact lens wear and atmospheric conditions.

DED symptoms are typically managed thanks to ophthalmic solutions such as tear substitutes. These are safe and reliable options that can provide relief from the discomfort, burning and visual disturbances to restore the patient’s quality of life.

DED is more prevalent in females and the risk factor increases with age, the rate of DED in women over 50 years is almost twice the one of men 7% compared to 4%. Indeed, due to the presence of sex steroid receptors on meibomian glands, high estradiol levels are a risk factor for dry eye. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been extensively studied for postmenopausal women to manage DED and other symptoms. However, HRT is unreliable, and the overall increase in the health risk caused the Women’s Health Initiative to eventually terminate the study of HRT. Plant-based solutions are now at the heart of studies to provide a safe and efficient treatment of DED.