| Thanks, Leigh, for finding this paper and bringing it to our attention. I've had a chance to read the whole paper, and it looks like a solid piece of research. The study found that serious problems with dry eyes (either 'severe symptoms' or clinically-diagnosed dry eye syndrome) occur in about 6% of older women not taking any HRT, in about 7% of women taking estrogen plus progesterone, and in about 9% of women taking estrogen without progesterone. Because the study included so many women (about 25,000), these differences are statistically significant. But for individual women the implications are minor. Most women don't have serious problems with dry eyes, whether they take HRT or not. If you are one of the minority that do, and are not taking HRT, taking HRT won't make the problem better, and taking estrogen alone might make it worse. If you have problems with dry eyes and are taking estrogen and progesterone, stopping HRT is unlikely to make them better, though it won't make them worse. If you have problems with dry eyes and are taking estrogen alone, adding progesterone or stopping estrogen might make them better, but it is more likely to make no difference. Hope this helps, Rosie |
