Purpose:
We have previously shown that the duration of dry eye correlates to how patients express their signs and symptoms of dry eye (patients exclusively experiencing symptoms have a median duration of 3 years, signs and symptoms of 5 years, and signs only of 6.5 years). The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of the dynamics of ocular signs and symptoms on tear film stability over time as measured by the tear film break up pattern (TFBUP).
Methods:
Three hundred seventy–four (374) patient eyes with a reported diagnosis of dry eye and 102 normal eyes underwent baseline examinations including a slit–lamp biomicroscopy, tear film break–up time (TFBUT), TFBUPs, and vital dye staining. Patient eyes were categorized as normal or dry eye (dry eye patient eyes were divided according to the duration of their dry eye).
Results:
The following table significantly demonstrates (p<0.001) that patients who have had dry eye for up to 3 years have a different distribution of TFBUPs when compared to patients who have had dry eye for more than 7 years.
Conclusions:
These data suggest that the distribution of TFBUPs fundamentally changes throughout the progression from early to late stage dry eye, and a trend was observed between duration of dry eye and the incidence of the amorphous blob and wispy patterns.
Keywords: cornea: tears/tear film/dry eye • cornea: clinical science • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: treatment/prevention assessment/controlled clinical trials