AIM:To investigate the effect of sodium hyaluronate eye drops combined with vitamin A palmitate ophthalmic gel on levels of tear film stability and inflammatory cytokines in patients with dry eye.

METHODS: A total of 100 patients with dry eye treated in our hospital from January 2015 to February 2017 were randomly divided into control group and observation group, 50 cases in each group. Patients in the control group were treated with sodium hyaluronate eye drops. Patients in the observation group were given vitamin A palmitate ophthalmic gel on the basis of the control group, and then the clinical efficacy, tear film stability and the level of inflammatory cytokines were detected in the two groups.

RESULTS: After treatment, the levels of BUT and SⅠt in both groups increased significantly compared with that before treatment, and FL was significantly lower than that before treatment. The levels of BUT and SⅠt in the observation group after treatment were 11.24±0.22s and 11.4±0.17mm/5min respectively, which was high than that of control groups(P<0.05). FL level was 1.78±0.10 points, which was significantly lower than that of the control group after treatment(P<0.05). After treatment, the levels of IL-1β and TNF-αsignificantly decreased in both groups. The levels of IL-1β and TNF-α in the observation group were 34.38±5.58ng/L and 134.47±12.14ng/L, significantly lower than those of the control group after treatment, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05). The total effective rate of observation group after treatment was 91.7%, significantly higher than that of the control group after treatment, the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: Sodium hyaluronate eye drops combined with vitamin A palmitate ophthalmic gel can relieve the symptoms of patients with dry eye effectively, increase the stability of tear film, and reduce the levels of inflammatory factors in tears, which is reliable in clinical application.