Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation improves dry eye symptoms in patients with glaucoma: results of a prospective multicenter study

Abstract

Abdullah Kaya,1 Yakup Aksoy21Department of Ophthalmology, Anittepe Military Dispensary, Ankara, Turkey; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Girne Military Hospital, Girne, CyprusWe read the article entitled “Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation improves dry eye symptoms in patients with glaucoma: results of a prospective multicenter study” by Tellez-Vazquez, with great interest.1 The authors found omega-3 fatty acid supplementation to have very beneficial effects on symptoms and clinical findings of dry eye. We appreciate the authors’ well-organized study that contained a large number of participants.Findings in this study show the importance of diet in dry eye syndrome. As a result of industrialization, natural eating habits have changed. Refined foods make up a large part of the diet. Thus, deficiency of essential molecules such as omega-3 is unavoidable. Elderly people especially, may have more deficiency because of potential absorption problems. Omega-3 is important for cell membrane stabilization and health of neural cells.2 Deficiency of omega-3 may have a significant role in dry eye, more than estimated. We suggest that supplementation of omega-3 should be recommended to chronic dry eye patients.View original paper by Tellez-Vazquez.

Keywords

• dry eye
• omega-3
• supplementation
• diet
• feeding