PURPOSE To investigate the relationships between tear osmolarity and other ocular surface parameters and to determine the diagnostic value of tear osmolarity in primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) using tear film break-up time, Schirmer I test, and cornea/conjunctiva staining. METHODS We included 310 eyes of 155 patients diagnosed with dry eye disease (39 primary SS and 116 non-Sjögren dry eye di...

We designed a randomized, double blinded, 3-months controlled prospective clinical study to investigate effects of oral uridine on the ocular surface in dry eye patients. Twenty-seven patients who diagnosed as dry eye with lower than 5 mm of wetting in the Schirmer strip, with corneal epithelial erosion and who completely followed-up till 3 months were enrolled. Corneal-conjunctival fluorescein...

PURPOSE The Schirmer's test is commonly used in the clinic for the diagnosis of dry eye disease by measuring tear volume. This report describes a procedure which can be used to recover tears from the Schirmer strip for the measurement of multiple tear cytokines as well as matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) by Luminex technology. METHODS Cytokine and MMP recovery was determined by using spiked S...

There are as many as one-third of the systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients who suffer from dry eye syndrome. To this date, dry eye syndrome in SLE patients is believed to be caused by secondary Sjogren syndrome (sSS). However, there is increasing evidence for possible independency of dry eye syndrome and sSS in patients suffering from autoimmune diseases. The purpose of this retrospectiv...

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of dry eye symptoms and signs in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 192 children with JIA: 48 oligo-, 39 extended oligo-, 79 polyarthritis, and 26 with other types of arthritis (eight juvenile spondyloarthritis, five juvenile psoriatic arthritis, three mixed connective tissue diseases, two systemic onset art...

PURPOSE The aim was to investigate the effect of low dose doxycycline (20 mg) therapy in patients with chronic meibomian gland dysfunction that were refractory to conventional therapy. METHODS The randomized prospective study enrolled 150 patients (300 eyes) who have chronic meibomian gland dysfunction and who didn't respond to lid hygiene and topical therapy for more than 2 months. All topic...

PURPOSE Assessment of ocular involvement in transthyretin-related familial amyloidosis with polyneuropathy (FAP) in a large cohort of Portuguese patients. METHODS We reviewed the medical records of 513 Portuguese FAP mutation carriers, at the Ophthalmology Service, Centro Hospitalar do Porto, between 1 January 2008 and 31 January 2013. Abnormal conjunctiva vessels (ACV), Schirmer test, tear b...

PURPOSE To investigate the changes in tear secretion and tear film stability after excimer laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for high myopia. METHODS One eye of 28 patients underwent unilateral LASIK for the correction of myopia with spherical equivalent refractions ranging from -6.37 to -18.25 D (mean, -11.98 +/- 3.45 D). Schirmer tear test values without anesthesia at 5 minutes and tear ...