Clinical findings associated with Bidens bipinnata L . eye drops on moderate and severe dry eye in postmenopausal women

Background: To investigate the therapeutic efficiency of Bidens bipinnata L. eye drops on moderate and severe dry eye in postmenopausal women. Methods: In this prospective random-controlled study, 60 postmenopausal patients diagnosed with dry eye in two hospitals from August 6th 2011 to August 6th 2013 were divided into two groups (30 cases in each group). One group (A) was treated with Bidens bipinnata L. forte eye drops and the other (B) was treated with artificial tears as a control. We compared these two groups by evaluating visual acuity, subjective symptoms of the ocular surface, Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), tear film function tests, tear protein, and confocal scanning microscopy at before treatment and at 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks after treatment. At 8 weeks after treatment, all patients were examined with systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, glutamic-pyruvic transaminase, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, urine creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen to determine the safety of the trial. Results: There were no significant differences for the symptoms of ocular surface, OSDI, tear protein, and tear film function between the two groups before the start of treatment (P > 0.05). After treatment, although all indices of patients in Group A were improved with the prolonged treatment time, the clinical curative effect in Group B was not significantly different. At 8 weeks after therapy, all indices of patients in Group A had improved, compared with pre-therapy (P < 0.05), while there was no improvement in Group B (P > 0.05). At postoperative week 8, all indices were significantly different between the two groups (P < 0.05). In addition, the mean number of corneal epithelium basal cells and inflammatory cells of Group A were greater than Group B (P < 0.05); the number in Group A were 3066±269 mm-2 and 52±18 mm-2, compared with Group B 4102±324 mm-2 and 194±62 mm-2, respectively. All safety values for all patients showed no change at 8 weeks after treatment. Conclusion: Bidens bipinnata L. eye drops can significantly alleviate the symptoms of moderate and severe dry eye in postmenopausal women.