Mile Brujic, a partner in a 2-location optometry practice in northwest Ohio (Premier Vision Group), discussed a real-world clinical experience with lifitegrast for the treatment of dry eye disease (DED) at SECO 2026. He has been in clinical practice for nearly 24 years and notes a substantial shift over time in the volume and type of patients he manages, particularly due to increased clinical awareness of dry eye and the importance of identifying and treating it appropriately.
Brujic explained that, as clinicians have become more proactive in diagnosing dry eye, they are naturally seeing more patients with the condition and a higher percentage of such cases in their practices. He emphasized that the “good news” is the wide range of available therapeutics, and positions lifitegrast as one of the key pharmaceutical agents in this space.
The core of his comments centers on study findings presented in February 2026, which examined real-world experience with lifitegrast across 12 offices—6 ophthalmology and 6 optometry practices. The project was a retrospective chart review designed to capture clinicians’ perspectives on lifitegrast as a primary treatment for dry eye and to compare real-world outcomes with those observed in clinical trials.
He highlighted 2 major insights:
- Symptom resolution timeline: Most patients experienced near-complete resolution of dry eye symptoms within 1 to 3 months. Brujic noted this was a meaningful and somewhat surprising observation that became clear only after carefully reviewing records and “digging back” into the data.
- Clinical satisfaction and symptom improvement: Clinicians rated their satisfaction with lifitegrast on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 represented “very satisfied.” The responses showed overwhelming satisfaction, paralleling measurable improvements in the following:
- Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) severity, and
- Burning and stinging symptoms commonly reported by patients.
Brujic also underscored several practical and regulatory aspects. Lifitegrast is given twice daily, which he described as relatively convenient, and it carries an FDA approval for signs and symptoms of DED. The second element—symptoms—is especially important when treating contact lens wearers, where symptom relief is a major clinical objective. He noted that, in the chart review, lifitegrast was frequently used for patients with chief complaints of contact lens–related discomfort, reinforcing its logical fit in such cases.
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Source: Optometry Times