Absorbable punctal plug and its application in dry eye / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

The punctal plug is a small implant inserted into the tear ducts, which is currently the main clinical treatment for dry eye.The use of punctal plugs can maintain natural tears on the ocular surface and has a good effect on solving the long-term dry eye problem.The plug structure can mechanically block the lacrimal duct to maintain tears.The material of the puntal plug must have good biocompatibility to achieve the therapeutic effect without causing tubulitis or other complications.Therefore, the selection of a suitable punctal plug material has always been a hot spot in medical research.In general, punctal plug materials must be biocompatible, safe and comfortable.At present, common punctal plug materials are mainly divided into absorbable and non-absorbable.The absorbable punctal plugs are often biocompatible, safe and degradable compared to the non-absorbable ones.The use of absorbable punctal plug materials and their application in the dry eye were reviewed in this article.