R. Avisar et al., COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF TEAR SUBSTITUTES AND THEIR IMMEDIATE EFFECT ON THE PRECORNEAL TEAR FILM, Israel journal of medical sciences, 33(3), 1997, pp. 194-197
Dry eye patients present with instability of the precorneal tear film
which breaks up much earlier than normally. The instability of the pre
corneal tear film leads to dry eye symptoms such as the sensation of s
and in the eye, recurrent blurred vision, itching, smartness, and the
sensation of dryness. The stability of the precorneal tear film can be
evaluated by the break-up-time test (BUT). The aim of treatment of dr
y eye is to increase the precorneal tear film stability. Tear substitu
tes are the most frequent medication for dry eye patients, who request
life-long treatment. Therefore, we estimated the influence of tear su
bstitutes on the precorneal tear film stability. The influence of unpr
eserved artificial tear substitute containing 0.1% sodium hyaluronate
(Healon 0.1%) was compared with that of 7 different available tear sub
stitute preparations containing pre-servatives. The results of the pre
sent study show that Healon 0.1% has the best influence on the precorn
eal tear film stability. These data were found to be independent of th
e viscosity property of Healon 0.1%.