A clinical study of topical treatment for thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy with dry eye syndrome

INTRODUCTION: Clinically, thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) patients were suffered from dry eye syndrome. Only a few relevant studies were about this topic. Our study was determined to provide high-level evidence for the treatment of TAO with dry eye syndrome. PURPOSE: To compare the clinical effects of vitamin A palmitate eye gel and sodium hyaluronate eye drop forTAO patients with dry eye syndrome. METHODS: The study was conducted in the Ophthalmology Department of the Ninth People’s Hospital Affiliated with the Medical College of Shanghai Jiao Tong University from May to October 2020. A total of 80 mild or moderate-to-severe TAO patients with dry eye syndrome were randomly divided into two groups. The disease stages of all subjects were inactive. Patients in group A were treated with vitamin A palmitate eye gel three times/day for one month and sodium hyaluronate eye drop in group B. The index including break-up time (BUT) and Schirmer I test (ST), corneal fluorescence staining (FL), ocular surface disease index (OSDI), and adverse reactions were recorded by the same clinician at baseline and 1 month after treatment. The data were analyzed by SPSS 24.0. RESULTS: Finally, 65 subjects completed the treatment. The average age of the patients in Group A was 38.1 ± 11.4 years, and that in Group B was 37.26 ± 10.67 years. 82% of the subjects in group A were female and 74% in group B. There was no significant difference between the two groups at baseline, including the value of ST, BUT, OSDI, and FL grade. After the treatment, the effective rate was 91.2% in group A, of which the value of BUT and FL grade was significantly improved (P < 0.001). The effective rate in group B was 67.7%, of which the value of OSDI score and FL grade was significantly improved (P = 0.002). In addition, the BUT value of group A was significantly longer than that of group B (P = 0.009). CONCLUSION: InTAO patients with dry eye syndrome, vitamin A palmitate gel and sodium hyaluronate eye drop improved the dry eye and promoted corneal epithelial repair. Vitamin A palmitate gel improves the stability of tear film, while sodium hyaluronate eye drop improves patients’ subjective discomfort. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-023-02805-8.