[The relationship between corneal dellen and tearfilm breakup time]

In 51 patients (102 eyes) after strabismus operation, the incidence of corneal dellen was 22.54%. The average preoperative tearfilm breakup time was 28.75 sec, while the postoperative BUT in the dellen formation group was markedly reduced from the average 23.22 sec to 8.61 sec. The incidence of dellen after rectus resection (47.75%) was much higher than that after rectus recession (5.13%). It was believed that elevation of the bulbar conjunctiva after operation disturbed stability of the precorneal tearfilm to result in reduced BUT and local desiccation of the cornea, leading to dellen formation.