Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the ability of our newly-developed ocular surface tribometer (OTM) to determine the frictional coefficient (FC) of the human ocular surface in vivo.
Methods :
Our newly-developed OTM consisted of a stainless steel probe with a 3-mm diameter spherical ball at the tip, an amplifier, and an electrostatic capacity type force sensor as the transducer. The subject is fixed in a chin and head rest, and the ball is pressed manually on the anesthetized cornea at a constant pressure. The ball is moved 2 mm temporally, and the signals from the transducer is sent to a laptop computer. The tribometer system is able to measure the normal applied pressure, the movement velocity, and the FC of the cornea and temporal conjunctiva. The FC of the center of the cornea (FC-cornea) and the temporal conjunctiva (FC-conj) was measured in 6 eyes of six healthy volunteers (21.5±1.4 yrs, mean±SD). The measurements were repeated ten times, and the mean FCs was used for the statistical analyses.
Results :
The mean (±SD) FC-cornea was 0.112±0.017 and the FC-conj was 0.117±0.043 (P>0.05). The measurements were relatively easy to make, and the 10 measurements took10 min. No significant complications were detected from the measurements.
Conclusions :
Our ocular surface tribometer can measure the FC in vivo rapidly and easily without complications. The effects of ocular surface diseases on the FC can be determined by this tribometer.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.