Efficacy of lodoxamide eye drops on tear fluid cytology of patients with vernal conjunctivitis

A double-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted to eval uate the effectiveness of lodoxamide tromethamine 0.1 % eyedrops in prevent ing inflammatory cell accumulation in the tear fluid of patients with verna l conjunctivitis. A 1-week baseline period was followed by 4 weeks of treat ment with either lodoxamide tromethamine 0.1% ophthalmic solution or placeb o in 30 symptomatic subjects with vernal conjunctivitis. Cytological evalua tion of tear fluid was performed before and after the treatment. In the lod oxamide-treated group, but not in the placebo-treated group, the number of neutrophils (P = 0.051) and eosinophils (P = 0.020) in the tears significan tly decreased at the end of 4 weeks when compared with baseline (Wilcoxon-s igned rank test). It was concluded that lodoxamide treatment was significan tly more effective than the placebo in terms of reducing inflammatory cells in the tear fluid in vernal conjunctivitis. This objective inhibition of i nflammatory cells may be associated with clinical relief.