ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Cornea
January 2023

by Liz Hillman
Editorial Co-Director

The idea of putting a drop of one’s own blood into one’s own eye might make some patients squirm, but the use of autologous blood eye drops continues to be a point of interest in research and as a potential cost-effective alternative to processed hemoderivatives.

A recent study published in the journal Clinical Ophthalmology continues to advance the topic. “Finger-Prick Autologous Blood (FAB) Eye Drops for Dry Eye Disease: Single Masked Multi-Centre Randomised Controlled Trial” was conducted at two centers in the U.K. to investigate the efficacy of finger-prick autologous blood for patients with severe dry eye.

The study enrolled 60 patients. Thirty patients (60 eyes) were treated with the finger-prick autologous blood 4 times a day in addition to their conventional medical dry eye therapy; the other 30 patients (58 eyes) were treated with conventional dry eye treatment alone.

The investigators found that the addition of autologous blood eye drops via a finger prick significantly decreased OSDI scores. OSDI scores decreased –17.68 points in the autologous blood group compared to –7.04 in the control, conventional therapy-alone group. The authors reported no adverse safety events or differences in BCVA between the two groups. There were, however, four withdrawals from the autologous blood group, one of which was because the patient did not want to administer the finger-prick autologous blood.

In the discussion, the authors explained the benefits of whole autologous blood, including that it contains all the “nutritive components and trophic peptides which support ocular surface health and integrity” and that it includes “components naturally found in tears.” Compared to other hemoderivatives, the authors wrote that finger-prick autologous blood has the advantage of being cost effective, it doesn’t require refrigeration, and it’s readily available. The authors acknowledged that not all patients would be comfortable with the finger-prick autologous blood technique.

The authors advocated for a larger randomized controlled trial to better understand the potential long-term clinical benefits of finger-prick autologous blood. Anant Sharma, MD, corresponding author on this study, who has been researching the ocular benefits of autologous blood for years, said in a news article published by Moorfields Eye Hospital several years ago that this technique is a “potential game changer.”

“It is simple, inexpensive, and early results suggest it is effective with excellent results and no serious side effects,” he said in the article, adding, “We’re also hopeful that it could benefit patients with other conditions that affect the front of the eye, such as ulcers, infections, and corneal erosion syndrome.”

Watch Dr. Sharma demonstrate the technique in this video.

EyeWorld previously reported on the use of finger-prick autologous blood, specifically in cases where patients had persistent epithelial defect. The EyeWorld article also discussed a prospective, non-comparative study that looked at its utility for dry eye.