COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF TEAR SUBSTITUTES AND THEIR IMMEDIATE EFFECT ON THE PRECORNEAL TEAR FILM

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%.