Purpose:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of insulin eye drops for treating refractory persistent epithelial defects (PEDs).

Methods:

A prospective, single-center, case series was performed from March 2020 to September 2021. All patients were prescribed insulin eye drops for refractory PEDs that failed on maximum standard medical treatment (including serum eye drops). The drops were used 4 times/day. Patients were followed up at 2 weekly intervals with full slitlamp examination and serial anterior segment photography. The primary end point was resolution of the epithelial defect.

Results:

Eleven eyes of 10 patients were treated with insulin eye drops. The mean age of the cohort was 45.4+ 25 years with a mean follow-up of 195.7+ 114.3 days after re-epithelization. The most common causative condition was chemical injury (n= 5, 60%). Mean baseline PED defect was 41.3+ 55.2 mm 2. Nine of 11 eyes (82%) fully re-epithelized within a mean time of 62.3+ 34.6 days (range 14–112). In 2 patients who did not achieve re-epithelization, one had a reduction in size from 12.25 mm 2 to 4.5 mm 2 and the other had no response. No recurrence in defect was observed in the group that had fully re-epithelized.

Conclusions:

This study showed that the use of topical insulin eye drops led to a successful resolution of PED in 9 of 11 cases. We demonstrate the use of insulin for closure of PEDs in chemical eye injury. Larger controlled studies are required to further evaluate this novel therapy.