Purpose: To determine whether systemic replacement with combined esterified estrogen (EE) and methyltestosterone (MT) (EE + MT) would reduce symptoms and promote clinical improvement in postmenopausal women with dry eye syndrome (DES).
Design: Retrospective, noncomparative, interventional case series.
Methods: Investigators reviewed the charts of 11 postmenopausal women treated within the last 3 years with EE + MT.
Results: The mean patient age was 65.2 years (standard deviation [SD] 11.4, range 48-84 years). The mean treatment duration was 12.2 months (SD 6.2 months, range 4-24 months). Ten (91%) of 11 patients reported improvement in dry eye symptoms while receiving treatment. For these 10, relief occurred after an average of 4.1 months of treatment (SD 3.2, range, 1-9 months).
Conclusions: Treatment with EE + MT may be efficacious for DES of various etiologies. A randomized placebo-controlled trial is planned to further evaluate these encouraging findings.