Evaluation of Eye-Pain Severity between Dry-Eye Subtypes

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Pain Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Dry eye disease (DE) is a multifactorial condition affecting the ocular surface.
• DE is often associated with significant eye pain, but the severity can vary between subtypes.
• Objective pain assessment tools are needed to complement subjective patient reports.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare eye pain severity across different dry eye subtypes using subjective questionnaires and the objective PainVision® apparatus.
• To evaluate the utility of PainVision® in differentiating pain levels in DE patients.
• To explore correlations between different pain descriptors and overall pain severity.

Main Methods:

• 52 patients with dry eye and eye pain were classified into three subtypes: aqueous deficient DE (ADDE), decreased wettability DE (DWDE), and increased evaporation DE (IEDE).
• Eye pain severity was assessed using the PainVision® apparatus, the DE-symptom-questionnaire visual analog scale (DSQ-VAS), and the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire 2 (SF-MPQ-2).
• Statistical analysis compared pain severity between DE subtypes and examined correlations between questionnaire scores.

Main Results:

• PainVision® indicated significantly greater eye pain severity in ADDE and DWDE subtypes compared to IEDE (p < 0.05).
• No significant differences in pain severity were found between DE subtypes when using the questionnaires alone.
• Significant correlations were observed between DSQ-VAS scores and various pain components (continuous, intermittent, neuropathic, total pain) in the SF-MPQ-2 (p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Aqueous deficient dry eye and decreased wettability dry eye subtypes are associated with higher objective eye pain severity than increased evaporation dry eye.
• The PainVision® apparatus provides a valuable objective measure for assessing eye pain severity in dry eye patients.
• Subjective pain reporting via questionnaires may not fully capture the differences in pain experienced across DE subtypes, highlighting the importance of objective tools.