Statins may help prevent scar tissue in eyes, says study

Statin medication — commonly used to lower cholesterol levels — could also prevent the formation of scar tissue inside the eye, a study has found.

The research examined renewed surgeries among 5,709 eye patients who were admitted to hospital for a vitreoretinal surgical procedure between 2008-2014.

The novel results indicate that use of statin medication at the time of surgery was associated with a 28 per cent reduction in the risk of renewed surgery among patients who underwent a primary vitrectomy to treat retinal detachment.

However, statin medication was not found to be associated with a reduced risk of renewed surgery in the other vitreoretinal disease groups involving retinal surgery, such as agerelated macular pucker formation, or vitrectomies performed to treat diabetic retinopathy.

"It seems that statin treatment is beneficial in the treatment of retinal detachment, the most serious common retinal disorder which may at worst lead to blindness," said Docent Sirpa Loukovaara from the University of Helsinki in Finland.

"This means that systemic statin medication may be beneficial not only in the prevention of cardio-vascular diseases, but also in terms of eye health," Loukovaara said.

According to the study, published in the journal Acta Ophthalmologica, the benefits of statin medication on retinal detachment patients is probably due to the effect of the statin medication on reducing the inflammation inside the eye and hindering the formation of scar tissue.

"At the moment there is no safe drug treatment that could prevent the formation of scar tissue inside the eye, so we should study the potential benefits of statins in this area," Loukovaara said.

"It's possible that in future, retinal detachment patients thought to benefit from the treatment would receive statin medication as an implant or as an injection inside the eye," Loukovaara added.