Central corneal and epithelial thickness in severe dry eye syndrome patients

Session Details

Session Title: Presented Poster Session: Corneal Biomechanics

Session Date/Time: Sunday 06/09/2015 | 09:30-11:00

Paper Time: 09:40

Venue: Poster Village: Pod 4

First Author: : J.Lee SOUTH KOREA

Co Author(s): :    H. Choo   K. Seo   S. Kim        

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To evaluate central corneal and epithelial thickness in severe dry eye patients using Fourier Domain OCT (RTVue; Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA) and to compare them with normal patients

Setting:

Wonju Severance Christian hospital ophthalmology department.Wonju. Republic of Korea Severance Hospital Ophthalmology department. Seoul. Republic of Korea

Methods:

Central corneal and epithelial thickness of 56 eyes of dry eye syndrome (diagnosed by TBUT 〈 5 sec, Schirmer test 〈 5mm, corneal and conjunctival staining score 〉2) were measured by Fourier Domain OCT (RTVue; Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA) and compared with age matched 112 eyes of healthy controls. To evaluate the effect of tear volume change on measurement of epithelial and total corneal thickness, 17 healthy subjects were enrolled. Sequential measurements of central corneal and epithelial thickness were performed before and after 5, 10, 15, 30 and 60 minutes following instillation of Refresh plus eye drop (Allergan, CA, USA)

Results:

Epithelial thickness in dry eye group (43.59±3.82µm) was significantly thinner than control group (50.14 ± 3.42 µm, p-value 〈0.001). Stromal thickness was 489.89 ± 29.53 µm in dry eye group and 488.85 ± 29.94 µm in control group, and it showed no difference between two groups (p-value = 0.830). Evaluation of epithelial thickness and corneal thickness measurement did not show any difference before and after an artificial teardrop instillation. (Epithelial thickness p = 0.450, Total corneal thickness p = 0.105, Repeated measure ANOVA).

Conclusions:

Central corneal epithelial thickness was significantly thinner in dry eye syndrome group compared to normal control. Fourier Domain OCT (RTVue; Optovue, Inc., Fremont, CA) is an effective method for measuring epithelial thickness. It was not significantly affected by tear volume change.

Financial Interest:

NONE