Treatment of Diffuse Diabetic Macular Oedema Using Steroid Eye Drops

Purpose:  To evaluate the efficacy of treatment of diffuse diabetic macular oedema (DME) with difluprednate ophthalmic emulsion 0.05% (Durezol™) in eyes before vitrectomy.

Methods: This study enrolled patients with diffuse DME for whom more than 3 months had passed since prior treatment. Nineteen eyes in 15 subjects were treated with difluprednate ophthalmic emulsion 0.05% four times daily for the first month and then twice daily for 2 months (treatment group). As a control group, 22 eyes in 11 subjects with DME were selected from subjects who underwent the steroid responder test.

Results: In the treatment group, the mean visual acuity (VA) (±SD) was 0.38 ± 0.25 logMAR and mean retinal thickness was 461.1 ± 109.9 μm at baseline. After 1 month of treatment, the mean VA had improved to 0.29 ± 0.25 (Wilcoxon rank-sum test, p = 0.30), while mean retinal thickness had decreased to 372.1 ± 70.0 μm (p = 0.006). The rate of effective improvement in retinal thickness was 42% and that of VA was 26%. In the control group, changes in neither VA nor retinal thickness were significant.

Conclusions: Eye drop therapy using difluprednate ophthalmic emulsion 0.05% is a useful and effective treatment modality without surgical intervention or severe side-effects.