Serum Eye Drops
Chronic Dry Eyes? Serum Tears May Be The Next-Level Treatment You’re Looking For.
While most people experience dry eyes from time to time, chronic, severe dry eye syndrome may mean that your eyes need a little extra help. The eyes are meant to be lubricated at all times to protect them, and having constantly dry eyes can lead to redness, itching, inflammation and pain. Many dry eye sufferers find their symptoms are eased by using artificial teardrops. But for some patients, these symptoms are not reasonably controlled, and a longer-lasting solution is necessary.
What Are The Causes Of Chronic Dry Eye?
Your eyes may be dry for a number of reasons, including:
- Eyelid issues
- Medication side effects
- Conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis or Rosacea
- Decreasing hormone levels in menopause
Symptoms To Watch Out For
It can be difficult to know when to seek help for dry eyes, as often the symptoms build slowly over time. If you are experiencing the following symptoms on a daily basis, it may be time to talk to your Doctor, Integrative Medical Practitioner or Naturopath to discuss solutions:
- Feeling of sand or “something” in the eye
- Itchiness not eased by over the counter eye drops
- Redness and irritation of the eyelid
- Sensitivity to light that wasn’t there before
- Blurry vision that may be fixed by drops, but keeps returning
What Are Natural Tears Made Of?
The tears produced by our own tear ducts are not just wet. In fact, they’re a complex mixture of moisture, oils, mucus and antibodies designed to lubricate and protect the eyes on many levels. Over the counter artificial eye drops can help, but they simply can’t adequately replace our own natural tears.
How Are Autologous Plasma Eye Drops Made?
At Central Drug we prepare your autologous (ie “from your own tissues”) plasma eye drops in our sterile compounding department. Your blood is withdrawn by a nurse, and the plasma is extracted using a centrifuge. The plasma is then packaged at the right strength in small droptainer bottles, which you can easily use to apply your drops to your eyes.
The drops contain no additives or preservatives, just your own plasma and sterile unpreserved sodium chloride as the diluents if needed.
Serum Tears Are A Specialty Of Ours At Central Drug, Victoria
Where Can I get Serum tears?
You need a prescription to obtain autologous eye drops, this would usually be done by your medical doctor, integrative practitioner or naturopathic doctor based on a full assessment of your symptoms.
Some Doctors will draw your blood and send it away to a compounding pharmacy that is at a different location. However you also have the option to take your prescription in person to a reputable compounding pharmacy that has, experience, the correct equipment and safety standards in place, to have your blood drawn and your serum tears made while you wait. Choosing a local compounding pharmacy has the benefit of giving patients the added peace of mind of being on-site from start to finish.
How To Order Your Serum Tears Autologous Eye Drops
1. Book your appointment
Call us at 361-575-4713, to set up a time to come in and complete the paperwork, and have the nurse collect some of your blood.
2. Eye Drops Can Be Made On The Same Day
Following the collection of your blood, it will take us approximately 4 hours to make your eye drops, depending on how much blood was drawn. A maximum of 3 months’ supply can be dispensed at a time.
How To Store Autologous Eye Drops
1. Refrigerate Current Bottle
Keep one droptainer that you use in the fridge, and you can use it for 3 days. Any quantity left should be discarded.
2. Freeze All Other Bottles
The rest of the droptainers should be kept in the freezer at all times.
3. How To Defrost Serum Tears
On the third day, you will take droptainer that you are going to use next out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw for the next day.
How Do You Know If Serum Tears Are Working?
It should not take long for you to notice for yourself whether the Serum Tears are helping your symptoms, however it is important to keep up your regular check-ups. Your doctor will monitor your progress and will decide whether the treatment should be continued.
If your treatment is to be continued, you can notify us one week before you run out of the eye drops and book your next appointment at the compounding pharmacy to have blood drawn and eye drops made.
Possible Complications In The Making Of Autologous Eye Drops
Usually there are no issues. However, theoretically there may be a little chance why your blood cannot be used. If that is the case, you will be informed and appropriate further action will be discussed.
Possible side effects of Serum Tears
Because the eye drops are made from your own biological fluid without preservatives, side effects are minimal. There is a very small chance that a protein deposit could collect on the surface of the eye. This is very rare and can easily be resolved by stopping the treatment.
Also, make sure to follow the expiration on each droptainer and the storage instructions to prevent any contamination.
What if I Don’t Want To Use The Eye Drops?
Do not share your drops with anybody else, because they are made from your blood!
If you do find yourself with unused Serum Tears you can bring them to your doctor or compounding pharmacy to be properly disposed of.
If you have any questions please contact your doctor, or call Central Drug in Victoria at 361-575-4713
Serum Tears FAQ
Chronic dry eyes are more than just a nuisance. This disease can impose serious limitations on a person and significantly reduce quality of life. So what do you do when those red, dry-eyes won’t stop giving you the blues? Your typical over-the-counter medications can only help so much before it’s time to upgrade to a more effective treatment.
If you suffer from dry eye disease, you’re going to need something more potent than a bottle of artificial tears from the corner store. This is where your own biology steps in to save the day. There’s a solution for dry eye disease called serum tears, and it comes from your own blood! Recent research proves that serum tears can be used as an effective treatment for dry eye disease, as well as a range of other eye-related ailments.
Serum tears are a solution made from a patients’ blood serum. Serum is the clear solution in the blood that is leftover after most of the proteins and cells have been removed. Blood serum is then combined with a sterile, preservative-free solution to create a tear-like substitute that biologically matches the patient.
The production of serum tears is a two-fold process. Patients have their blood drawn at a lab that will then process the blood sample and send it to a sterile compounding facility. Serum tears can only be made in a sterile compounding pharmacy, such as the state-of-the-art compounding facility at Central Drug in Victoria, Texas.
Anyone suffering daily from the discomfort of dry, red, and itchy eyes! Why live with the pain and frustration of chronic dry eyes when there is a ready-made solution, developed from your own chemistry?
Serum tears are used to treat dry eye disease and help to heal the ocular surface. Those suffering from Sjögren’s syndrome will find serum tears to be especially beneficial, as well as patients who are suffering from ocular surface burns or Filamentary Keratitis.
Dry eyes are fairly common and can usually be treated with over the counter eye drops. However, those suffering from chronic dry eye disease will need to use serum tears to lubricate dry eyes. Dry eye disease is different from normal dry eyes caused by allergies.
Dry eye disease is a condition in which your tears don’t sufficiently lubricate your eyes because your body is not producing quality tears, or enough of them. This condition tends to worsen over time, which is why it’s important to promptly utilize a serum tears treatment to prevent further complications from dry eyes, such as ocular damage.
- Eye redness
- A constant feeling of irritation in the eyes
- A stinging, burning or scratchy sensation in the eyes
- Sensitivity to light
- Mucus in or around the eyes
Dry eyes can lead to an increased risk of eye infection and cause damage to the surface of the eyes. Tears protect the eyes from infection and keep them from being damaged. Aside from a general decrease in quality of life, untreated dry eyes can cause some serious problems. Without enough tears, the eyes can become inflamed, infected or severely damaged if dry eyes are left untreated.
- corneal ulcer
- abrasion of the corneal surface
- impaired vision
- inability to use contact lenses
- impaired driving at night
Strangely, severe dry eyes can lead to watery eyes. When the eyes are dry they become irritated and scratchy, which can prompt the lacrimal glands to overproduce tears and flood the drainage system of the eyes. “Watery eyes from dry eye syndrome” is more common in older adults, as dry eye syndrome can be caused by various medications and simply tends to happen with age.
Sjögren’s syndrome is an autoimmune disease in which the body mistakenly attacks the glands that produce tears and saliva. The common symptoms of Sjögren’s syndrome are dry eyes and dry mouth.
Dry eyes due to Sjögren’s syndrome is a serious condition and should be treated promptly before leading to severe complications, such as permanent ocular damage.
Filamentary Keratitis is a recurrent corneal condition caused by dry eye syndrome in which the outer layer of the corneal cells die and form filaments on the surface of the cornea. This can lead to severe pain and an itchy, gritty sensation in the eyes.
According to a study by the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, serum tears have been used to successfully manage the uncomfortable and often very painful symptoms of Filamentary Keratitis in just one week, when applied four times daily.
As with any kind of medication, it is important to consult with your physician and use serum tears as prescribed. In general, serum tears can be used every few hours as needed to treat discomfort from dry eyes.
Serum tears droplets should be applied directly to the eye, as often as prescribed by your physician. The best way to prevent contamination is to avoid direct contact between the dropper and the eye.
Consult with your eye doctor or pharmacist to determine how many times per day to apply serum tears.
Serum tears typically come in a batch of small vials that are meant to stay frozen, except for the vial currently in use which should be kept refrigerated. Serum tears should always be kept frozen or refrigerated, and used by the expiration date. A defrosted, opened bottle of serum tears should typically be used within 48 hours.
We are one of the most experienced compounding pharmacies in North America, and we specialize in Serum Tears. We will work with your eye doctor to provide the right medication for your needs, produced on-site, while you wait, in our state-of-the-art compounding facility.
Don’t live with the pain and discomfort of dry eye disease one more day, the solution is at your fingertips. Call Central Drug to discuss how Serum Tears can help soothe your dry eyes today.
