Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Jun 15, 2023; 14(6): 930-938
Published online Jun 15, 2023. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i6.930
Usage of topical insulin for the treatment of diabetic keratopathy, including corneal epithelial defects
Ching Yee Leong, Ainal Adlin Naffi, Wan Haslina Wan Abdul Halim, Mae-Lynn Catherine Bastion
Ching Yee Leong, Ainal Adlin Naffi, Wan Haslina Wan Abdul Halim, Mae-Lynn Catherine Bastion, Department of Ophthalmology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Author contributions: Leong CY, Naffi AA, Bastion MLC and Wan Abdul Hamid WH designed the research study; all authors performed the research and screened for relevant articles; Leong CY and Naffi AA analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Bastion MLC revised the manuscript and formatted the article; Wan Abdul Hamid WH evaluated the writing and made further amendments to it.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Bastion MLC received fees for serving as a speaker and/or an advisory board member for Novartis, Alcon, and Santen. She received fees for serving as a speaker for Bayer, Lumibird, and Allergan. She has received research funding from Alcon, Novartis, Santen, TRB Chemedica, IDB healthcare, and National University of Malaysia. She is an employee of the National University of Malaysia. Wan Abdul Halim WH received travel funding from Santen. She is also a key opinion leader for Oculus GMBH. She is an employee of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Leong CY and Naffi AA have no conflict of interest to disclose.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mae-Lynn Catherine Bastion, DO, FRCS, MBBS, Full Professor, Department of Ophthalmology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Faculty of Medicine Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Jalan Yaacob Latif, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia. maelynnb2003@yahoo.com
Received: December 27, 2022
Peer-review started: December 27, 2022
First decision: February 8, 2023
Revised: March 14, 2023
Accepted: April 24, 2023
Article in press: April 24, 2023
Published online: June 15, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: Diabetic keratopathy (DK) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus that is responsible for poor corneal wound healing. It also reduces quality of vision and quality of life. DK is the result of damage resulting from insulin deficiency, hyperglycemia and neuropathy. Topical insulin has been described as an effective and safe new treatment for DK that can normalize the ocular surface and healing rate of epithelial defects. This review examines the available evidence.