New Eye Surface Temperature Test May Indicate Dry Eyes
TOON, Japan, June 2011 — There are several ways to test people's eyes for dryness, and now scientists may have found another: measuring the temperature of the eye's surface.
In a recent study of a new instrument called the Ocular Surface Thermographer, developed by Tomey Corporation, researchers found that dryness correlated with a lower eye surface temperature.
In a study of 30 eyes of 30 dry eye patients and 30 eyes of 30 normal subjects, researchers measured the temperature of the eye surface right after eye opening and every second during 10 seconds of eye opening. The temperature readings were correlated with other dry eye tests such as tear film break-up time and Schirmer strip tests.
The researchers concluded that eye surface temperatures 10 seconds after eye opening were highly reliable in predicting dryness, calling the decrease in temperature "significantly greater" in the dry eyes than in normal eyes.
A study report appeared in the May issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
