Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the reliability of a newly developed, ocular surface-oriented thermography for dry eye screening.
Methods: :
Ocular surface temperature was measured in 30 eyes of 30 dry eye patients (D group, mean±SD, 52.9±17.1 yrs) and 30 eyes of 30 normal subjects (N group, 42.7±17.0 yrs) using an ocular surface-oriented, infrared radiation thermographic device in a non-contact manner (Ocular Surface Thermographer; OST, TOMEY Co). Subjects were asked to keep their eyes open continuously for 10 seconds after closing them for 5 seconds. The temperatures of three regions, including the center of the cornea, and the nasal and temporal conjunctiva, were determined immediately after eye opening, and after 10 seconds of sustained eye opening. In addition, correlations between changes in surface temperature and tear film break-up time (BUT), Schirmer I test values, and corneal and conjunctival epithelial fluorescein staining scores were analyzed.
Results: :
Immediately after eye opening, no significant difference was noted between the surface temperatures of the N and D groups in any of the 3 regions, while the temperature of the D group was found significantly decreased as compared with that of the N group after 10 seconds of sustained eye opening (center of the cornea p < 0.001, nasal conjunctiva p < 0.05, temporal conjunctiva p < 0.01). The decrease in temperature at the center of the cornea was particularly noteworthy, and was significantly correlated with BUT (r = -0.572, p < 0.001). When the change in temperature of the center of the cornea (> 0.13 °C as a cut off value) was applied as an index for dry eye screening, the sensitivity and specificity for 10 seconds of sustained eye opening were 0.83 and 0.80, respectively.
Conclusions: :
Measurement of ocular surface temperature during sustained eye opening using OST may be useful for simple dry eye screening.
Keywords: cornea: tears/tear film/dry eye • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: systems/equipment/techniques