Virgin Coconut Oil Contact Lens as Ocular Rewetting Agent (VCOCL)

This is a clinical trial where 44 subjects dry eyes were instilled with Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO CL) using contact lenses as its vehicle. All subjects are healthy subjects with no other ocular diseases except for having some dry eye symptoms (included with McMonnies questionnaires). Parameters measured at baseline and after 15 minutes of insertion and were compared. The control eyes were inserted with contact lenses soaked in saline (CCL). The eye that wears the VCO CL or the CCL were chosen randomly by masked operator. At the end of this study, the parameters measured will indicate if the VCO CL was able to retain tears in the eye and remove the dry eyes symptoms.

A new study using contact lens pre-soaked in virgin coconut oil (VCO CL) was conducted to determine the safety of the agent on dry eye human. Efficacy of the VCO CL was assessed by measuring TBUT, anterior eye assessment, corneal staining, pH, and Schirmer value and the measurement of residual VCO volume in tears before instillation (0 minute) and at 15 minutes after insertion. Wilcoxon Signed Rank and Mann Whitney U Test were used to analyse any changes in all the measurable variables. The differences of the TBUT, corneal staining and residual VCO volume in tears value in both eyes were analyzed. These study data will suggest if the VCO CL is safe and effective and can be recommended to be used as an option for dry eyes in human

Both eyes of subjects will be instilled with either one of the study contact lens or the control lens at random.

A commercially available sterilized contact lens was soaked in VCO for 4 hours in a sterile condition to allow absorption of VCO into the contact lens polymer. The contact lens here is a vehicle to transport the VCO into the eye.

Inclusion Criteria: Dry eye symptoms (according to McMonnies questionaires) Written consent Exclusion Criteria: No ocular diseases No systemic diseases Not wearing contact lenses regularly for the past 6 months

Mutalib HA, Kaur S, Ghazali AR, Chinn Hooi N, Safie NH. A pilot study: the efficacy of virgin coconut oil as ocular rewetting agent on rabbit eyes. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015;2015:135987. doi: 10.1155/2015/135987. Epub 2015 Feb 23.