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Updated: Aug 30, 2026
Corneal Sensitivity Testing Procedure for Ophthalmologic and Optometric Patients
Published on: August 2, 2024
Usefulness of corneal esthesiometry for screening diabetic retinopathy
Lênio Souza Alvarenga1, Elisabeth Nogueira Martins, Gustavo Teixeira Grottone
1Departamento de Oftalmologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. alvarenga@oftalmo.epm.br
Objective:
To assess the usefulness of corneal esthesiometry for screening diabetic retinopathy.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study was carried out comprising 575 patients attending a diabetic retinopathy-screening program in the city of São Paulo. Corneal esthesiometry was assessed with the Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer. The presence of diabetic retinopathy was detected with indirect fundoscopy. The validity of corneal esthesiometry in identifying diabetic retinopathy was evaluated by the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve.
Results:
Sensitivity and specificity analyses of the corneal esthesiometry for detecting the stages of diabetic retinopathy using different cut-offs showed values less than 80%. The best indices (72.2% sensitivity and 57.4% specificity) were obtained for the identification of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Conclusions:
In the study series, corneal esthesiometry was not a good indicator of diabetic retinopathy.
