Hello, a relative of mine is 80+ years old and is suffering from dry eye. A quick pub med search revealed that Rapamycin showed efficacy in animal models when applied directly to eyes. I’m wondering if any of the humans out there might have seen a benefit from oral Rapamycin.
We’ve had a bit of a discussion about rapamycin’s use impacting eyes in the past, see here:
In mouse studies an increased risk of cataracts has been reported, so that is something people are watching for generally. But it has not been seen or reported in humans at all so far.
People are developing their own DIY rapamycin skin cream and spray, and toothpaste, and hair/scalp syrum and so it seems like it would be something someone could try themselves if they wanted to. I can imagine people might be able to use an existing eye drop formula and add (perhaps rapamycin dissolved in trancutol, but I have done no research on transcutol’s impact on eyes - so something to check first).
Here: DIY Rapamycin Toothpaste and Flossing Paste
Here: DIY Rapamycin skin cream
You might look into red LED therapy for dry eye. I’ve been using it for my eyes and face on and off, and experience significantly more tears the day of and after I do it. I think my current dose is around 300 mW/cm2 for about 10 minutes every other day, without any eye covering, eyes closed. Here’s a paper I found but didn’t read in detail that might lead to more info.
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I thought this was going to be a link to Rapa and retinal health… you might want to research this yourself… apparently it was just a sentence/paragraph in something I was reading about NAC and now I can’t find the article again.
Astaxanthin and lots of blueberries are things I would personally recommend for dry eyes.
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The supplementation period lasted 8 weeks and patients were followed up every 4 weeks for 16 weeks. Results showed that oral micronutrients supplementation significantly improved tear production and stability while decreased corneal fluorescein staining and tear ROS levels, thus leading to a significant amelioration in both signs and symptoms [65]. The rationale of the use of astaxanthin derives from its capacity to directly address the vicious cycle of the disease, and in particular the underlying inflammation and oxidative stress.
From
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7281326/
I’ve ordered mine from the Now brand because @RapAdmin said. I’ll report in 8 weeks, because it will be pretty obvious. My dry eye issue is omnipresent and painful, and I can’t afford cyclosporine - (679 $ for a month’s supply for something that may work in 2-3 months!)
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I have been down this road, and mine happened SINCE I’ve been taking rap, about 2 years into it. That said, I understand that the cause of the dry eye determines the treatment. In my case it was caused by Demodex (which is on the skin of all of us). I tried the ‘standard’ things and got relief from IPL therapy, but it was expensive and temporary. I finally read a paper on Ivermectin cream for demodex related dry eye, and I’ve had relief from it with that. It’s stupidly expensive in the US, ($550 for one measly tube of Soolantra brand, which is the only brand I was able to find in the US) but I was able to procure it on a trip to South America for $30 from a large pharmacy chain. No prescription necessary there. My guess is that from India, it would cost $10 for a “generic” brand. The doc who diagnosed it strongly suggested fish oil helps, and I already take that as part of my longevity protocol.
Eyes still dry but no more painful sticking of eyelid to eyeball in the middle of the night. Trust me, that sucked.
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