New Treatment Options for Dry Eye?
Dry eye suffers could soon have new options for relief, in light of a new discovery published in the June issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. The authors are the first to discover that natural killer (NK) cells promote inflammation that is critical in the development of dry eye disease. This discovery could lead to new treatment options that address the cause––rather than the symptoms––of the disease.

“Dry eye disease is suffered by millions of people in the U.S but still lacks effective management,” says Yihe Chen, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Schepens Eye Research Institute at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary of the Department of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “Our study has promoted the further understanding of the pathogenesis of dry eye disease, which is fundamental to develop new treatments and thus improve quality of life for those with this disease.”

Can Increased Selenium Help Graves' Patients?
Increased selenium intake improves quality of life as well as slows the progression of ocular complications in patients with Graves’ disease, according to a study in the May 19th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. Symptoms of Graves’ ophthalmopathy may include dry eye, puffy eyelids, double vision, photophobia and pain upon ocular movement. “Our study demonstrates that patients with mild Graves’ orbitopathy can benefit from a six-month course of selenium selenite, both in terms of amelioration of eye manifestations and improvement in quality of life,” says author Caludio Marcocci, M.D., professor of endocrinology at the University of Pisa, Italy.