A small pellet-like product for dry eye that is placed in the eyelid. Sold by prescription only.

Lacriserts are like small pellets of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (also called hypromellose) which are placed in the lower eyelid. When artificial tears are added, the pellet dissolves and forms a protective film over your tears.

Lacriserts are available from Merck & Co Inc. West Point, PA 19486 and require a prescription. UPDATE 10/06: Lacriserts were acquired by Aton Pharma along with several other Merck products in October 2006. Please see the company's website for more information and contact details. It is our understanding Lacriserts will continue to be commercially available (on a prescription basis).

Lacriserts are not very well known and seem to be a product that works for only a very small group of patients - but those for whom it does work think very highly of them. We have some Lacriserts users on our community forum, Dry Eye Talk.

Product information sheet (PDF download)

To read patient experiences with Lacriserts, go to Dry Eye Talk and search on "lacriserts"

To learn about other eye lubricant products for moderate to severe dry eye, click here for a product directory.