Corneal permeability changes in dry eye disease: an observational study

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Current dry eye disease (DED) diagnostic tests like OSDI, TBUT, and staining exhibit significant variability.
• There is a need for novel, objective metrics to accurately evaluate DED.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between fluorophotometry and established DED diagnostic tests.
• To determine if fluorophotometry can serve as a novel objective metric for DED evaluation.

Main Methods:

• An observational study included DED patients and healthy controls.
• Fluorophotometry scans were performed at baseline and at 5, 10, 15, and 30 minutes after fluorescein dye instillation.
• Correlations were analyzed between fluorophotometry measurements and OSDI, TBUT, fluorescein staining, and lissamine staining.

Main Results:

• Fluorophotometry showed statistically significant differences in fluorescein concentration between DED and normal eyes at all time intervals.
• While fluorophotometry values converged towards baseline, significant differences persisted up to 30 minutes.
• Most fluorophotometry scoring methods did not correlate significantly with other DED tests, except for some correlations with lissamine staining and aggregate scores.

Conclusions:

• Fluorophotometry effectively differentiates between DED and normal eyes, suggesting it captures an aspect of DED missed by current tests.
• Despite limited correlation with other DED metrics, fluorophotometry shows potential as a valuable tool for DED screening, diagnosis, and monitoring.