Amniotic Membrane Eye Drops For The Repair Of Corneal Ulcers

Analyze the first cases treated with amniotic membrane extract based eye drops for persistent corneal ulcers resistant to conventional therapies, evaluating the efficacy and safety of the treatment. 

Department of Ophthalmology ASL ROME 2 - S- Eugenio Hospital ROME

2 men and 2 women, with  average age of 64.5 years, were treated with eye drops based on amniotic membrane extract. Clinical cases were:1 corneal ulcer in patients with not hereditary corneal dystrophy, 1 corneal ulcer in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes, 1 corneal ulcer after vitrectomy for diabetic retinopathy, 1 corneal ulcer after vitrectomy and silicone oil for recurrent retinal detachment. All patients had already been treated with antibiotic eye drops, tear substitutes and ointments without improvement.

Maximum follow-up is 10 months, minimum 6 months. All  drops were prepared and sent by Veneto Eye Bank, 4 bottles were used for each patient, one bottle every week for a total of 4 weeks with a daily dosage of 5 drops.

All patients noticed an improvement in symptoms and at the end of treatment ( 4 weeks) 3 patients achieved total re-epithelialization and 1 patient a partial re-epithelialization. The patient with corneal dystrophy improved to complete recovery after the addition of systemic antiviral, suggesting a possible herpetic genesis of the corneal ulcer even though she did not show a typical appareance of the disease. All cases did not have a recurrence of the disease until the end of the follow-up.

Treatment with eye drops based on amniotic membrane extract can be a very useful therapy in the case of neurotrophic ulcers refractory to traditional treatments. Already from the beginning of the treatment, there is an improvement in symptoms such as redness, burning and foreign body sensation and in most cases it is possible to obtain a complete re-epithelialization in the absence of side effects.