Novel Okra Polysaccharide Approach to Inflammation Control for Dry Eye

Dry eye affects millions of people in the US and countless more worldwide. Despite its name, dry eye is due to an underlying inflammatory process that originates from the eyelid margin, a condition called meibomian gland dysfunction. It’s the chronic inflammation, similar to what occurs with a paper cut, that leads to the sensation of grittiness, tearing, blurry vision, and pain, which can severely affect work and daily activities.

There is no cure for dry eye and current treatments are limited by cost, side effects, and effectiveness. Artificial tears generally do not last for more than a few minutes. Some drugs like steroids and antibiotics produce too many negative side effects – glaucoma, diarrhea, light sensitivity. Other prescription drugs are costly and can take weeks to months to produce any improvements.

There is now a novel approach to dry eye that produces immediate and long-lasting dry eye relief using a natural okra-based polysaccharide approach for inflammation control.

In a study by Dr. Scott Schachter, 9 patients were treated with this okra-based technology called Zokrex and their subjective dry eye symptoms were assessed before and two hours after treatment. The results of this study were dramatic and statistically significant. The average SPEED score before treatment was 11.3, which indicates severe dry eye symptoms. After treatment, the SPEED score improved to 0.7, or minimal if any dry eye symptoms. Perhaps there’s more to okra than meets the eye.