Changes in Corneal Expression of after Autologous Serum Eyedrop Treatment in Patients with Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency.

: To evaluate the effect of autologous serum eyedrops treatment on corneal expression of the in patients with limbal deficiency. : A prospective and comparative interventional case series study of 42 eyes of 21 patients was performed before and 8 weeks after treatment with autologous serum. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmic assessment of the tear film and ocular surface, corneal impression cytology (IC) and detection by Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). : Forty-one of the 42 eyes studied were available for both conventional cytology and analysis prior to and after treatment. Differences between outcomes obtained by impression cytology and detection were found in 9 of 82 samples (11%). We found changes in the corneal expression of after treatment in 19 of 41 eyes (46.3%): 18 of them (94.7%) changed from positive to negative expression, and 1 eye (5.3%) changed from negative to positive expression after autologous serum eyedrops. These changes were related with the corneal involvement prior to treatment (15 of them (78.9%) occurred in patients with slight corneal involvement), and with the improvement in the degree of squamous metaplasia after treatment (P = .001 and P = .003, respectively). : The treatment significantly improved tear stability, squamous metaplasia, and subjective patient perception. Autologous serum eyedrops treatment diminished the corneal expression of mainly in patients with slight corneal involvement before treatment.