Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To determine the characteristics of the tear film in patients with keratoconjunctivitis sicca Methods: Twenty-two patients (44 eyes) with clinical keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) diagnosed based on interpalpebral fissure vital staining in the absence of other causes for the staining had the following tear function determinations done: tear turnover, tear volume, and tear flow, all by fluorophotometry, Schirmer test, tear evaporation rate by evaporometry and meibomian gland dropout by meibography. Results: The mean values for tear turnover were 0.149% ± 0.1%, tear volume 2.53 µl ± 2.7 µl, tear flow 0.33 µl/minute ± 0.4 µl/minute, Schirmer test 13.9 mm ± 9.8 mm, evaporation 5.04 x 10-7 g/cm2/second ± 2.4 x 10-7 g/cm2/second and the mean meibomian dropout percentage was 31.36. Only 43.2% of the eyes had a Schirmer test lower than 10 mm. Sixty-two percent of the eyes had meibomian gland dropout higher than 25%. The degree of meibomian gland dropout did not correlate with the degree of tear evaporation. None of the other eight combinations of tear measures correlated with dropout or Schirmer test. Conclusions: Decreased tear turnover, volume and flow were found in all KCS patients, but none correlated well with a decreased Schirmer test (43%). The significance of meibomian gland dropout in these patients with KCS is unclear.
Keywords: anterior segment • cornea: surface mucins • conjunctivitis