Key Takeaways
- Adding oral vitamin D to topical dry eye therapy improved tear breakup time and Schirmer test results more than topical treatment alone at 3 months in patients with vitamin D deficiency.
- Combined treatment was also associated with larger reductions in tear inflammatory cytokines, although some gains diminished by 6 months after topical therapy was stopped.
Adding oral vitamin D to topical treatment improved tear film measures and reduced inflammatory tear cytokines more than topical therapy alone in patients with dry eye disease and vitamin D deficiency, according to a study.
The small prospective comparative study included 34 patients with dry eye disease and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels below 20 ng/mL. Seventeen patients received preservative-free artificial tears alone for 3 months and 17 received the same topical therapy plus oral cholecalciferol 50,000 IU weekly for 8 weeks.
The combined topical plus vitamin D group achieved significantly greater improvement in tear breakup time at the prespecified 3-month primary endpoint, with an adjusted mean difference of 1.25 seconds versus topical therapy alone (*P *< 0.001). The group also showed significantly greater improvement in Schirmer test values, with an adjusted mean difference of 1.45 mm versus topical therapy alone (P < 0.001).
Patients who received vitamin D supplementation also had larger reductions in tear levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-4 at 3 months, and these differences remained significant after false discovery rate adjustment. By 6 months, improvements had partially attenuated in both groups after topical therapy was discontinued.
Reference
Aslanova V, Huseynli S. Clinical and Immunological Effects of Systemic Vitamin D Supplementation in Vitamin D-Deficient Dry Eye Disease: A Prospective Comparative Study. Korean J Ophthalmol. 2026;doi: 10.3341/kjo.2026.0068. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42421615.
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