Therapeutic Effect of 0.1% Tacrolimus Eye Drops in the Tarsal Form of Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 0.1% tacrolimus eye drops in the tarsal form of vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) and to survey the changes of dendritic cells at the palpebral conjunctiva in patients with VKC by in vivo confocal microscopy.Methods: A total of 17 patients (34 eyes) with the tarsal form of VKC were enrolled in this prospective, nonrandomized case series. They were treated with 0.1% tacrolimus eye drops twice daily after discontinuation of all other topical medications. Subjective ocular symptoms and objective ocular signs were scored on a 4-point scale by one ophthalmologist and the characteristics of the dendritic cells in each right eye at the palpebral conjunctiva were evaluated by in vivo confocal microscopy before treatment and at the 1st, 2th, 4th, and 8th weeks after treatment.Results: After 1 week of treatment with 0.1% tacrolimus eye drops, the score for each symptom in all patients showed a significant (p
Source: Ophthalmic Research - Category: Opthalmology Source Type: research