Short-Term Efficacy and Safety of Scleral Lenses in the Management of Severe Dry Eye in a Chinese Population.

Scleral lenses (SLs) are recommended in DEWS II to treat dry eye (DE) patients that do not respond well to conventional therapies. This study aimed to evaluate the short-term (one month) efficacy and safety of SLs in the management of severe DE. This single-center prospective study enrolled 15 patients (22 eyes) who were diagnosed with severe DE. The Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), the Chinese version of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (CHI-VFQ-25), and LogMAR best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were evaluated at baseline and one month following SL fitting. DE-related parameters were obtained and analyzed before and after one month of SL treatment, including tear-film breakup time (TBUT), corneal fluorescein staining (CFS), non-invasive breakup time (NIBUT), tear meniscus height (TMH), Schirmer I test (SIT), and meibomian gland (MG) dropout. Complications and adverse events were monitored. OSDI scores (53.9 ± 28.1 vs. 10.4 (4.2-25), = 0.0001) and CFS scores (10.2 ± 3.9 vs. 7 (0-12), = 0.001) decreased after one month of SL therapy, while CHI-VFQ-25 scores (74.4 (54.8-83.8) vs. 95 (78.7-98), = 0.0001) and TBUT (0.6 ± 0.5 vs. 2.2 ± 1.0, < 0.0001) increased significantly. LogMAR BCVA improved from 0 (0-0.1) to 0 (0-0) ( = 0.0147). The average types of medications per eye decreased from 2.82 ± 1.01 to 1.32 ± 0.64 ( 0.025), and the proportion of eyes using glucocorticoids significantly decreased from 63.6% to 13.6% ( 0.001). No severe SL-related adverse events were reported. SL treatment quickly alleviated subjective symptoms as well as clinical signs of DE with good safety and enhanced the visual function and vision-related quality of life, showing its usefulness in the management of severe DE.