CORNEAL TEMPERATURE IN PATIENTS WITH DRY EYE EVALUATED BY INFRARED RADIATION THERMOMETRY

Aims - The corneal temperature change following each blink was investi gated in patients with dry eye using an infrared radiation thermometer . Methods - Twenty patients with dry eye and 20 normal controls were e nrolled in this study. Subjects kept their eyes open for 10 seconds wi thout blinking and corneal temperature was measured every second with a recently improved infrared radiation thermometer. Results - In the 2 0 patients with dry eye, corneal temperature change after keeping the eye open for 10 seconds was 0.21 (SD 0.06)degrees C while it was 0.61 (0.28)degrees C in the 20 normal patients (p=0.0001). In an exponentia l equation, the inclination of the slope of a patient with dry eye was smaller than the normal. The correlation coefficient was r=0.79 (0.16 ) in patients with dry eye and r=0.90 (0.07) in normal patients. The m ean K value of patients with dry eye was 0.20 (0.13)/second and that o f normal subjects was 0.31 (0.19)/second (p=0.03). Conclusion - Findin gs demonstrate the usefulness of this thermometer for measuring cornea l temperature in the evaluation of dry eye. Decrease in corneal temper ature with each blink in patients with dry eye was smaller than in nor mal subjects.