Autologous serum drops are made from a patient’s own blood, processed, diluted, packaged and then returned to that same patient. In this approach platelets are collected from a patient by their clinician or processing pharmacy, centrifuged to remove certain unwanted components resulting in a platelet-enriched-plasma. This is then diluted, packaged in preservative free packaging, frozen and finally dispensed back to the individual patient.

Since platelets used in autologous serum are patient sourced, patients must return to their clinician every 1-3 months to re-donate blood for product “refills.” Serum drops in spite of these and other limitations, have been well documented in the literature for over 30 years as generally safe and effective for dry eye as well as other corneal diseases and conditions. A major reason for their overall positive efficacy in the literature today –  the presence of not one but over 30 nutritive and regenerative components also present in healthy tear film (see below). The fact dry eye is defined as a multifactorial disease caused by not a single (e.g., inflammation) but multiple etiologies, suggests therapies with multiple active ingredients have potential to treat a broader range of dry eye patients vs. today’s single a.i. products.

To learn more about the benefits and limitations of today’s autologous serum, click on the following articles and abstracts:

• Re-think Autologous Serum, Review of Optometry, October 2018.
• Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Autologous Platelet Lysate for Treatment of Ocular GvHD, Bone Marrow Transplant, September 2016.
• Thicker than Water: Autologous Serum, Review of Ophthalmology, May 2016.
• Blood-derived Products Have Application in Ocular Surface Disease Therapy, Ocular Surface News, March 2016.
• Autologous Serum Eye Drops for the Treatment of Ocular Surface Disease, Eye & Contact Lens, May 2015.
• The Efficacy of Autologous Serum Eye Drops for Severe Dry Eye Syndrome: A Randomized Double-Blind Crossover Study, Graefe Archive of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, February 2014.
• The Application of Autologous Serum eye Drops in Severe Dry Eye Patients; Subjective and Objective Parameters Before & After Treatment, Current Eye Research, January 2014.
• Use of Autologous Serum in the Treatment of Ocular Surface Disease, Archives of Ophthalmology, December 2012.
• Autologous Serum Eye Drops Reduce Ocular Surface Disease Symptoms, Primary Care Optometry News, October 2012.
• Allogeneic Serum eye Drops for the Treatment of Dry Eye Patients with Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease , Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, June 2012.
• Autologous Platelet Lysate for Treatment of Refractory Ocular GVHD, Bone Marrow Transplantation, April 2012.
• Autologous Serum for Ocular Surface Diseases, Arqulvos Brasileiros de Oftalmologia, November/December 2008.
• Autologous Serum Eye Drops for the Treatment of Dry Eye Diseases, Cornea, September 2008.
• Use of Autologous Platelet-Rich Plasma in the Treatment of Dormant Corneal Ulcers, Ophthalmology, July 2007.
• Symptomatic Dry Eye Treatment with Autologous Platelet-Rich-Plasma, Ophthalmic Research, March 19, 2007.
• The Use of Autologous Serum Tears in Persistent Corneal Epithelial Defects, Eye, 2004.
• Autologous Serum Eye Drops for Ocular Surface Disorders, British Journal of Ophthalmology, November 2004.
• Comparison of Autologous Serum Eye Drops with Conventional Therapy in a Randomized Controlled Crossover Trial for ocular Surface Disease, British Journal of Ophthalmology, May 2004.
• Autologous Serum Eye Drops for the Treatment of Severe Dry Eye in Patients with Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease, Bone Marrow Transplant, April 2003.