PRP Drops For Eyes

Can you explain more about what PRP is, and what condition the drops treat?

PRP drops are derived from your own blood and composed of inactive platelets, bioactive proteins, and plasma. The platelets contain various natural growth factors, while the plasma acts to stabilize the function of platelets. With their remarkable healing and anti-inflammatory properties, PRP drops have shown promising results in addressing severe dry eye, particularly in cases where the cornea is damaged or shows signs of inflammation.

I have used autologous serum eye drops which sound similar if not the same - made from your own blood with the red blood cells taken out.
They are expensive. I would still be on them if it weren’t for my blood phobia. If I can get over the blood phobia then I may go back on them.
Which company makes the PRP drops? The company I have used for autologous serum eye drops is Vital Tears, I think they are the only company in the US that makes them.

I am in Canada so would be different companies.

@missopal at any rate I appreciate you bringing this up. I never heard of it but it inspired me to schedule an appointment with my optometrist to talk about it.

What is holding you back from trying them? Is it the cost, blood, or something else?

The alternative for me is a lubricating eye drop from the store (Refresh Optive Mega 3). At 5 doses recommended per day, those are quite expensive as well.

For the serum drops, they offered a discount if I purchased a 6 month vs 3 month supply. However, that’s kind of a lot of blood to be taken at once.

Here in Canada it's $800 for a 3 month supply. I see my doc in a few weeks and will talk more about it - see if any of his other patients have gone ahead. Yes it is expensive; what's holding me back is that I have tried every other treatment available here (IBL, LipiFlow, prescription drops), have spent a fortune with no lasting results. So before I spend another 800 I want more info re results.

@missopal from my understanding, the drops are not intended to give you any immediate relief beyond what you would get from a store bought lubricating eye drop. I think the idea is that the serum is full of nourishing factors that may help your eyes long term by reducing inflammation or possibly providing nutrients to help damaged nerves. I may be incorrect but you may not want these if you need immediate relief. Unless you find the store bought drops irritating; I know some people cannot tolerate those well. In that case, the drops may provide you with immediate relief.

Have you tried taking fish oil supplements/eating a diet with a decent amount of fatty fish in it? I have heard that helps too. I’m not sure if it works for me, but I still am trying it. Probably can’t hurt.

Thank you very much for your considered comment. How do you know these things? I have taken fish oil for years, eat lots of salmon and doubt there was been a difference, but willing to do anything. OTC preservative free drops rarely work; a steroid drop does but one cannot take these on a regular basis because they raise eye pressure. I see my dry eye doc next week, with whom I am raining the question of the PRP therapy. I will raise your comments.

@missopal good luck at your appointment next week. I get some information from my local optometrist (I live in a rural area). I have also gotten optometry care at Mayo, where they gave me a ton of information, both plain language and primary literature sources. I’m a scientist so I appreciate that sort of thing a lot. Due to my professional background, I find a lot of papers to read on my own as well.
As you pointed out it’s very hard to know what will be worthwhile. I think optometrists are in a tough space because so much is out of pocket for patients, so they don’t want to push expensive treatments on those who can’t afford it. But it’s hard to discern which treatments are worth trying. And which treatments even exist! That is one great thing about Mayo Clinic Connect, I learn about all sorts of treatments that were not on my radar.