A new study shows even one month’s use of oral omega-3 fish oil capsules improves dry eye signs and symptoms.
A patient from Santa Barbara asked me how long I thought it would take for her omega-3 fish oil nutritional supplements to start helping her dry eye symptoms we were treating before she would be ready for her wavefront LASIK eye surgery.
Coincidentally, a new study was just published in the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology that looked at this very question.
In this study, 64 patients with dry eye syndrome, ranging in age from 45 years to 90 years were studied. 33 patients received 2 capsules per day of oral omega-3 fish oil supplements containing 180 mg of eicosopentanoic acid (EPA) and 120 mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) each. The other 31 patients were given a placebo treatment of two capsules containing triglycerides. Patients were measured 30 days after the initiation of treatment. Measurements included tear break up time (tear evaporation time), Schirmer testing of tear production, and subjective dry eye symptoms.
Results showed an improvement in all three categories in those patients that took the oral omega-3 supplements. Tear evaporation was decreased by 71%, tear secretion was increased by 22.3%, and dry eye symptoms improved by 26% in the treated group.
I find these results very interesting in that they scientifically show that even a relatively short course of omega three supplementation helped significantly with dry eyes. Certainly, before we do LASIK or PRK laser vision correction eye surgery on patients, we like to optimize any dry eye issues and oral omega-3 is one of several tools we use to do this. The doses used in this study were lower than we typically use, demonstrating that improvement not only happened in a relatively short time, but with a relatively low dose.
Also of note, the omega-3 supplements used in this study did not contain the short chain omega-3 alpha linoleic acid (ALA) which is found in vegetarian sourced omega-3 such as flax seed oil. Previous studies have demonstrated that adding ALA into the mix improves the benefit of omega-3 supplementation. Studies have shown that pre-operative ALA, DHA, and EPA omega-3 supplementation improves healing times and even improves outcomes from surgery.
The omega-3 supplement I recommend to patients contains ALA, DHA, and EPA and, based on clinical data, would be expected to outperform the omega-3 supplements used in this study for dry eye treatment, which only had DHA and EPA. Again, this isn’t a criticism of the study, but it shows that even omega-3 supplementation that is of relatively low and incomplete dosing, given for a relatively short time, is of very significant benefit to patients. This study serves to underscore the important role omega-3 supplements play in optimizing tear quality and performance and certainly I recommend omega-3 supplements to essentially all of my patients for a minimum of 2 weeks before — and for 6 months after — LASIK and PRK laser eye surgery.
See Also
Short-Term Consumption of Oral Omega-3 and Dry Eye Syndrome
A new study showing that even short term use of low dose omega-3 supplements improved dry eye syndrome.
Epithelial Healing and Visual Outcomes of Patients Using Oral Omega-3 Before and After PRK
A study showing that oral omega-3 containing ALA, EPA, and DHA improved healing after PRK laser vision correction.
Dry Eye: Omega-3 Acids Thought to Benefit Dry Eye Patients
A look at how flax seed oil can help treat dry eye syndrome.
Eye Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids
All About Vision discussion of how oral omega-3 supplementation improves dry eyes.
If you Want Lasting Vision, Eat Those Omega-3s
NBC News piece on the benefits of dietary omega-3 in eye health.
Dry Eye and LASIK
All About Vision resource on dry eye and LASIK laser eye surgery.