Clinical Research of Using Oculus Keratograph for Observing the Location of First Tear Film Break-up Point

Abstract

 

Purpose

 

To observe the location of first tear-film break-up point in dry eye patients and normal person with Oculus Keratograph.

 

Methods

 

Cross-sectional and observational study design was used. From July to August 2011 in Eye Ear Nose and Throat Hospital of Fudan University, twenty-six dry eye patients were enrolled as objects in the study while twenty-one health volunteers were selected as normal control. The dry eye group consisted of 26 person(52 eyes), including 5 male(10 eyes),21 female(42 eyes),with the average age of 53.11±16.01; while the normal control group composed 21 person(42 eyes), including 7 male(14 eyes),14 female(28 eyes),with the average age of 47.29±17.27. We used Oculus Keratograph which could permit automatic determination of the tear film break-up time and point, providing a graphic representation referred to as a Tear-Map, which showed the location and size of the tear film break-up point according to the time(Figure 1 right). The different colours depended on different tear film break-up time(Figure 1 left).Not only the location of tear film break-up point,dry eye objective symptom score, tear film break-up time, but corneal fluorescein staining, Schirmer I test were performed on the dry eye patients and normal person. And subsequently, assess the difference between two groups.

 

Results

 

According to the quadrant sequence of supernasal, inferonasal ,infratemporal ,supertemporal, the respective occurrence proportion of first tear film break-up point, emerging in different quadrants, of dry eye group was: 8 eyes taking the proportion of 15.4%,19 eyes of 36.5%,10 eyes of 19.2%,15 eyes of 28.8% and of normal group was: 8 eyes taking the proportion of 19%,15 eyes of 35.7%,14 eyes of 33.3% and 5 eyes of 11.9% respectively(Table 1). It was the inferonasal quadrant that took up the maximum ration of first tear film break-up point and the fluorescein was more likely stained in infero-pupil area in corneal fluorescein staining test of the two groups(Table 2), yet no significant difference were found between two groups in neither the location of first tear film break-up point nor the corneal fluorescein staining. (chi-square test,X²=5.13,P>0.05;X²=0.43,P>0.05)

 

Conclusions

 

Oculus Keratograph could be feasibly used to observe the tear film break-up time and point, and it provided that the first tear film break-up point most frequently occurred in inferonasal quadrant.

 

 

 

Keywords: 486 cornea: tears/tear film/dry eye • 733 topography