On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 13:52:56 -0800, nikbrockwell wrote:

It is not an article. It is only an abstract of a poster session given
during the 1992 ARVO (Association for Research in Vision and
Ophthalmology) annual meeting.

The reference is to the abstract published in IOVS's Abstract Issue,
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1992 Mar;33(4):1289.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
2979--16
THE TREATMENT OF PERIMENOPAUSAL DRY EYE SYNDROME WITH TOPICAL ESTRADIOL.
Virginia Lubkin1, Robert Nash2, Philip Kramer1. 1. New York Eye and Ear
Infirmary, NY. 2. St. John's Univ., NY.

Experimental evidence suggests that both lacrimal gland and ocular surface
tissues are hormonally regulated by sex steroids. In order to evaluate the
effect of topical estradiol (E2), an IND was granted by the FDA allowing
the double blind clinical study of 17-B-E2 on perimenopausal dry eye
patients unresponsive to conventional therapy. Patients with other ocular
pathology, breast Ca, genital bleeding, or using hormonal meds were
excluded. Patients had one eye randomly assigned as a treatment eye while
the other was a control eye. Two groups of patients were studied. G-1
(n=6) utilized a lower concentration of E2, G-2 (n=8) a higher
concentration. Patients were seen every 2 weeks for 2 months. E2 and
placebo drops were administered qid. Parameters evaluated include visual
acuity, slit lamp exam, applanation tension, fundus exam, color vision,
tear osmolarity, lactoplate, schirmer test, rose bengal stain, maturation
index, and subjective improvement. A combined dry eye score was developed
utilizing the above parameters. G-1 showed 5/6 treated eyes(83.3%)
improved in their dry eye score. Of the eyes showing improvement, 3/5(60%)
had improvement greater than the placebo eye. G-2 showed 7/8 treated eyes
(87.5%) improved in their dry eye score. Of these eyes showing
improvement, 5/7 (71.4%) had improvement greater than the placebo eye.
There were no changes in visual acuity or elevation of intraocular
pressure. Topical E2 seems beneficial in the treatment of perimenopausal
dry eye.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

That's all there is.

If your library has access to IOVS, you should be able to get a copy. If
you need more information on the specific study they mention, you will
probably need to contact the presenters at the email address given on the
webpage you referenced.

I looked at iovs.org, and supposedly you can search just the ARVO
abstracts, but I had no luck finding any results with it. Likewise, the
abstract is not to be found in PubMed either.

(I wonder if I can get a job as a librarian...)