The application of high molecular weight hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid) eye drops is likely to be indicated before and after any ocular surgery in diabetic patients. In 2011 Galeano et al. reported that the skin of diabetic mice contains one third less hyaluronan than that of non-diabetic mice of the same race (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925443911000676?via%3Dihub). It was known that in the diabetic mice wound healing is delayed as compared to the non-diabetic mice, and that hyaluronan is a major component in the wound healing process. Galeano and collegues assumed that the reduced hyaluronan level they had found in diabetic mice might be the main reason for the delayed healing of wounds. To prove this they treated diabetic mice with different amounts of VERY HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT (HMW) hyaluronan (4 MDa) and found that HMW hyaluronan improved the rate of healing in diabetic mice, and that in the group of diabetic animals with the highest hyaluronan dose the speed the recovery of the epithelium was like in non-diabetic mice.
It is likely that these results can be transferred to the healing of epithelial wounds in the eyes of diabetic patients.
Dr. Mueller-Lierheim 