Mo' Stuff about Castor Oil and Dry Eyes
Just for OrangeZero
Cornea. 2007 Feb;26(2):175-81.
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Effect of an oil-in-water emulsion on the tear physiology of patients with mild to moderate dry eye.
Khanal S, Tomlinson A, Pearce EI, Simmons PA.
Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
PURPOSE: To determine the effect of an oil-in-water emulsion eye drop compared with a conventional dry eye supplement (hypromellose) on tear physiology in dry eye. METHODS: A randomized parallel, longitudinal, and investigator-masked study of the efficacy of 1.25% castor oil emulsion and 0.32% hypromellose solution was carried out. A total of 53 patients with mild to moderate dry eye (27 in emulsion group and 26 in hypromellose group) were recruited for the study. Patients were enrolled if they reported at least 2 symptoms on a McMonnies Dry Eye Questionnaire together with 1 of the following screening tests: noninvasive tear breakup time (5-10 seconds) and Schirmer test without anesthesia (2-5 mm in 5 minutes). Patients were instructed to use the test solutions 3 times a day for 30 days. Tear production, evaporation, lipid layer structure, and osmolality were measured before and 30 days after use of the drops. RESULTS: A statistically significant decrease was seen after 1 month in tear evaporation rates with both emulsion (7.25 +/- 5.43 g/m2/h) and hypromellose (2.02 +/- 4.75 g/m2/h). However, the decrease with emulsion was significantly greater than with hypromellose (P < 0.001). Lipid layer structure improved from day 1 to day 30 of the study with the emulsion but not with the hypermellose. No significant changes were seen in tear production and osmolality with either of the drops. CONCLUSIONS: The oil-water emulsion was more effective in reducing tear evaporation than hypromellose after repeated application over a 1-month period. This finding signifies the potential of the emulsion in the management of evaporative dry eye.
Ophthalmology. 2002 Nov;109(11):2030-5.
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Low-concentration homogenized castor oil eye drops for noninflamed obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction.
Goto E, Shimazaki J, Monden Y, Takano Y, Yagi Y, Shimmura S, Tsubota K.
Department of Ophthalmology, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba, Japan.
OBJECTIVE: We developed low-concentration homogenized castor oil eye drops for the treatment of patients with noninflamed obstructive meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD), a major cause of lipid-deficiency dry eye, and assessed the safety, stability, and efficacy of the eye drops. DESIGN: Randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled crossover clinical trial. PARTICIPANTS: Forty eyes of 20 patients with noninflamed MGD. METHODS: After a preliminary study of eye drops containing castor oil, 2% castor oil and 5% polyoxyethylene castor oil (emulsifier) were mixed to formulate homogenized oil eye drops. The patients were assigned randomly to receive oil eye drops or placebo six times daily for 2 periods of 2 weeks each. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: At the end of each treatment period, we assessed symptoms, tear interference grade, tear evaporation, fluorescein and rose bengal scores, tear break-up time (BUT), and meibomian gland orifice obstruction. Safety and stability tests were also performed. RESULTS: Symptom scores, tear interference grade, tear evaporation test results, rose bengal scores, tear BUT, and orifice obstruction scores after the oil eye drop period showed significant improvement compared with the results after the placebo period. No complications attributable to the eye drops were observed. The oil eye drops were stable when stored at 4 degrees C. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that castor oil eye drops are effective and safe in the treatment of MGD. The possible mechanisms of this treatment are improvement of tear stability as a result of lipid spreading, ease of meibum expression, prevention of tear evaporation, and the lubricating effect of the oil eye drops.
Girard LJ.
Shake it ...........................
Quote:
Originally Posted by
optigrrl
Wonder what the shelf-life is for that stuff, better sell it fast!
...................... a few years is good enough, if you empty the stuff into 1 gallon glass bottles. It starts separating after a while abd you can see different layers. Heat it up in a warm water bath and shake back into solution and it is like new.
Caster Oil Uses.............................
No dry eye cure...............
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Dave Nelson
It works! I just downed a whole cupfull of castor oil, and boy did my eyes water.
Um, I meant elicited a bi-lateral lacrimal hypersecretion.
Actually if you would have actually downed a cup full of Castor oil you would had no bi-lateral lacrimal hypersecretion but would have induced a severe diarrhea, and no dry eye cure.=============you would have been wet on an other part of your body.
