The use of medicinal plants in common ophthalmic disorders: A systematic review with meta-analysis

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess and compile the available research articles about medicinal plants used for ocular diseases. PRINCIPAL RESULTS: A total of 2949 articles were retrieved, 35 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, and seven studies (4 observational and three experimental) with low to moderate quality were eligible and involved in the systematic review, with a total of 600 plants from 4 countries. Among the 600 plants, only 24 (4%) were used to assess the status. Both the fixed and random models of the studies showed that the included studies tended to predict the results for the observational studies (OR = 0.062, CI = 0.043–0.090 OR = 0.039, CI = 0.012–0.122) for different plants used for ocular diseases. High heterogeneity (estimated as I(2) = 87.078, Tau(2) = 1.161 and Q-value = 23.217 with a p-value of 0.000), while for experimental studies (I(2) = 94.928, Tau(2) = 23.211 and Q-value = 39.434 with a p-value of 0.000) and publication bias were reported. CONCLUSION: Few articles representing approximately 600 plants of low to moderate quality reported using medicinal plants for ocular diseases. The meta-analysis confirmed the systematic review findings regarding the plants' traditional use with high heterogeneity and publication bias. A considerable gap was proven in the use of medicinal plants in ocular diseases requiring intensive research.